Credit Suisse plans to appoint Ulrich Körner as its new CEO, replacing Thomas Gottstein, whose departure will end one of the most tumultuous periods in the Swiss bank’s 166-year history.
The appointment of Körner, who heads the bank’s asset management division, is expected to be announced on Wednesday morning when the bank reports its second-quarter results, according to four people with knowledge of the plans.
Christian Meissner, who has been head of the lender’s investment bank, also plans to leave the group, having joined just over a year ago. But his departure will not be announced Wednesday, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Körner, who is Swiss, joined Credit Suisse in March last year, having previously worked at UBS, where he led the bank’s asset management business.
Gottstein took over as CEO of Credit Suisse in February 2020, just weeks before Switzerland was forced into a coronavirus lockdown. His departure was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
His 58-year tenure as chief executive was blighted by two crises surrounding the collapse of specialist finance firm Greensill Capital and family office Archegos within weeks of each other in the spring of last year. It was punctured by a series of landmark scandals that sent the bank’s share price hitting a three-decade low this month.
The implosion of Greensill forced Credit Suisse to close a $10 billion pool of mutual funds, while the bank suffered a $5.5 billion trading loss when Archegos crashed.
Thomas Gottstein, pictured, was appointed in 2020 after a highly embarrassing corporate espionage scandal led to Tidjane Thiam’s abrupt exit © Reuters
Gottstein became chief executive after a highly embarrassing corporate espionage scandal led to the abrupt departure of predecessor Tidjane Thiam.
A surprise pick, Gottstein was widely seen as a safe pair of hands to steady the ship following Thiam’s untimely ouster.
At the time, he was running the lender’s domestic businesses and had worked his way up through the investment bank.
During his tenure as CEO, Gottstein oversaw a comprehensive overhaul of the executive team. The bank is looking for a new chief financial officer, with David Mathers set to leave later this year.
The bank’s board has also been revamped, with Gottstein occupying three different chairs. He was appointed by Urs Rohner, who left after 10 years at the helm last year.
Rohner was replaced by former Lloyds Banking Group chief executive António Horta-Osório, who was forced out of the bank after just nine months after falling out with fellow board members and being caught breaking rules of quarantine of Covid-19.
Former UBS executive Axel Lehmann took over as chairman in January, having joined the board just months earlier.
Credit Suisse is expected to report its third straight quarterly loss on Wednesday morning after issuing a profit warning, its third of the year.
The bank is under pressure to cut costs after a pullback in risk-taking last year and exiting some business lines following the Greensill and Archegos scandals. Gottstein has described 2022 as a transition year.
Credit Suisse declined to comment.