“Finma should be more involved in the election of board members”

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On paper, Credit Suisse did a lot of things right in choosing its board of directors: seven women and five men sit on the board. Five come from Switzerland, the rest from abroad, for example Brazil, Great Britain or China.

Long unchallenged in the management world, the more diverse a committee, the better it will function. As far as the Credit Suisse Board of Directors is concerned, this appointment clearly didn’t work. The committee failed miserably, watching the historic Swiss bank make scandal after scandal and eventually lose its trust beyond recovery.

This proves that the board is diverse only on paper: different genders or countries of origin don’t quite work as long as all board members share the same attitudes – in this case, the probability of high profits obviously at the expense of risk management.

Urs Rohner did not allow any objections

It is no coincidence that many boards of directors are permanent, but not psychologically different: theoretically, shareholders have the final say on the composition of the board. In fact, they often just nod to proposed candidates – especially when it comes to large companies like CS.

In fact, VR is renewing itself by filling in the gaps with people who think the same as existing members. And also appoints suitable CEOs. The strong dominance of the board of directors by Urs Rohner (63), longtime Chairman of the Board at CS, made things even more difficult. “It was probably difficult to take countermeasures,” estimates compliance expert Monika Roth (71).

Good board members – on paper

The Financial Markets Authority (Finma) must approve changes in the board and management. Among other things, extracts from criminal records and debt enforcement records are checked. That’s not enough, criticizes Werner Raschle, 59, owner and CEO of personnel consultant Consult & Pepper. “In the medium term, there is no solution other than FINMA’s involvement in the election of the board of directors with greater and greater authority,” he demands. “You should at least accompany the selection process.”

However, it is doubtful whether the CS board would actually have been dismissed if the review had been done better. After all, there was nothing against individual candidates on paper.

Did Finma wait too long?

Monika Roth believes that with the scandals that have accumulated in recent years – all under the auspices of Urs Rohner – Finma should act: “UBS President Marcel Ospel also did not leave voluntarily during the financial crisis. Finma should have intervened earlier with Urs Rohner.”

Finma does not wish to comment on the CS board upon request. He notes that regardless of the individual case, he has already turned down candidates for a VR in the past. This happened, for example, in 2014 when Finma prevented the SVP from sending a farmer to the board of directors of the Zürcher Kantonalbank – according to the auditors, he did not meet the requirements.

Source :Blick