The president of Credit Suisse Group, the Portuguese Antonio Horta-Osorio, resigned this Monday, January 17, only 9 months after reaching the position. The cause: he was discovered breaking the quarantine in Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The infractions to the arranged norms hit his leadership in the institution.
His resignation comes after an internal investigation by the bank proved his infractions.
As his replacement, Credit Suisse immediately appointed Axel Lehmann (former UBS executive) and issued a statement saying the group’s marketing strategy would not be changed.
The bank’s reaction comes after its shares fell more than 5 percent after Horta-Osorio’s resignation was known.
Horta-Osorio had taken over to help the bank deal with numerous investment and management problems. Among them, the departure in 2020 of former CEO Tidjane Thiam due to an espionage scandal.
All the complications caused multimillion-dollar losses and layoffs in the second Swiss bank by market volume.
When Osorio took office, he said the new strategy would focus on wealth management, more closely monitoring investments and curbing what he called “a carefree culture” at the bank.
“It’s not a problem,” Lehmann told Reuters, in his first media interview since taking office.
“I regret that several of my personal actions have caused difficulties for the bank and have compromised my ability to represent the entity internally and externally,” Horta-Osorio said in his resignation statement. “Therefore, I believe my departure is in the interest of the bank and its shareholders at this crucial time,” added the former Lloyds chairman.
Credit Suisse Chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio resigns after just 9 months in the role, following a series of missteps including reported breaches of Swiss and UK quarantine rules https://t.co/1sGaScMthS pic.twitter.com/2uLIidbbiX
—Bloomberg (@business) January 17, 2022
Although it was not officially confirmed, Reuters cites people familiar with the situation that Horta-Osorio used the company’s private planes irregularly to get around during the quarantine.
According to El País, Horta-Osorio went to watch the Wimbledon finals, breaking UK quarantine rules, and then broke the restrictions on another trip to Switzerland.