CS apologizes for embarrassing appearances at the board chairman’s party



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The then head of Credit Suisse, Tidjane Thiam (left), and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the leading Swiss bank Urs Rohner (right) on April 27, 2018 at the general meeting of CS in Hallenstadion in Zurich.

Image: Cornerstone // Walter Bieri

Former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam is said to have experienced racist intolerance several times during his time in Switzerland, including at a birthday party for the CS chairman. Now the big bank apologizes for the appearance.

Credit Suisse (CS) has apologized for appearances at a birthday party for CS board chairman Urs Rohner in which racist cliches were used during evening entertainment. No one should have been insulted, said the CS when asked by the English daily “The Guardian”.

At Urs Rohner’s 60th birthday celebration last November, also attended by then-CS CEO Tidjane Thiam, a black man dressed as a caretaker appeared on stage and danced to the music as he swept the floor. Thiam, the only other black person on the occasion in a Zurich restaurant, apologized and left the room, according to a report published last Saturday about Thiam’s tenure and firing in the “New York Times.” Thiam’s partner and another couple at their table, including the CEO of British pharmaceutical company GSK, also left the room, according to the report.

After they rejoined the celebrations, several of Rohner’s friends reportedly performed a musical number onstage for which they had donned afro wigs. The “New York Times” reports were a “totally wrong characterization” of the evening, the Swiss bank told The Guardian: The intention was not to offend anyone, and if anyone was offended, the bank regrets it. .

Actions such as those described in the report may appear harmless to the white majority and are not intended to be racist. However, many ethnic costumes that use racist stereotypes go beyond taste and are harmful to blacks and other minorities and are part of myriad racial slurs and intolerance. As The Guardian reports, neither the CS nor Rohner should have been involved in organizing the party.

Numerous forms of intolerance

Thiam was the CEO of CS from 2015 to February 2020. At Thiam personally, the CS should not have apologized, writes The Guardian. In the “New York Times” article entitled “The short term and the sudden ouster of the only black chief executive of the bank,” Thiam himself does not speak of blatant racism at CS or Switzerland. “Whether you want to call it racism, xenophobia or another form of intolerance, the truth is that Mr. Thiam was never seen in Switzerland as someone who belongs to him,” the journalist writes.

Thiam resigned in February after an affair.

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