It’s a classic firefighting operation. Because Credit Suisse is in flames. Since the decision to raise the capital of 4 billion dollars, the papers of the big bank have lost value. day by day. A CS share currently costs more than 2.70 francs.
CS President Axel Lehmann (63) therefore took the opportunity to contain at least a little bit of the big fire when he appeared at a “Financial Times” banking conference in London. In Credit Suisse, the outflow of client assets weakened. It’s even “partly the opposite” in Switzerland. Meaning: In Switzerland, the CS must already be re-funded.
Almost no assets deducted
In November, Credit Suisse shocked investors by announcing that clients had withdrawn CHF 84 billion – 6 percent of all funds under management – since the end of October. Lehmann blames the rumors circulating on Twitter. Confident now: “Only very few customers have withdrawn all their assets.” Is the worst really over?
Lehmann is confident. He told Reuters news agency that the withdrawn client funds will come back sooner or later. He was not surprised that the share fell below 3 francs, he continues. And he is deliberately self-confident. The effects of the effort to spread optimism will be reflected in the stock tables by the end of the week at the latest. So far, investors have not been impressed by Lehmann’s assurances: the share price is still in the red.
“I was too tough”
Tidjane Thiam, 60, former CEO of Credit Suisse, made his much-acclaimed appearance in London on Wednesday. Regarding the recent scandals, Thiam said, “I was extremely tough and I’m pretty proud that none of this happened under my watch.”
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 feel responsible for it.
He called for “cultural change” at the bank as early as 2016. 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.” (be)