The departure of Tidjane Thiam (60) as CS CEO was dishonorable – he had to resign in 2020 as a result of the shadowing incident. But since then the bank has fallen several times lower. With the stock market in decline, a CS share not even worth 3 francs, CS bosses had to engage the sheiks to raise 4 billion francs of fresh capital to bail out the second largest Swiss bank from turmoil.
At a banking conference hosted by the “Financial Times” on Tuesday, Thiam first detailed the recent turbulence at his former employer. “I was extremely tough and I’m pretty proud that none of this was under my watch,” Thiam said, according to the famous financial newspaper.
Risk culture has long been skewed
A year after his departure, CS lost billions of dollars in the Archegos and Greensill routs. Observers agree: the bank did not have a risk culture, which is why it was involved in such expensive scandals from time to time. But Thiam doesn’t seem to be responsible for this.
On the contrary: In 2016, he called for “cultural change” at the bank. But his five years at the bank weren’t enough to solve the problems: “Cultural changes don’t happen overnight. It will take more than five years to do that.” Thiam knows he will continue to work hard to drive change at the bank.
Thiam also commented on the ailing big bank’s share price: CS’ difficulties upset him and he feels “not Schadenfreude”.
Broadside versus Swiss media
Also, the former boss talked about racism. He was the first dark-skinned CEO of a major European bank and, according to his own statements, felt this during his tenure. After headlines about racism within CS, the bank had to apologize to Thiam in 2020. In this context, Thiam is now opening up to the Swiss media: “Some sections of the German-speaking press in Zurich ran a very poisonous and effective campaign against me.”
In addition to Thiam, current CS Chairman Axel Lehmann (63) will speak at the FT Bank Conference on Thursday. It is eagerly awaited whether he will comment on the turbulence in the bank.