By Dharshini David
The spying scandal, which involved Iqbal Khan, Credit Suisse’s former head of wealth management being chased through the streets of Zurich, rocked the rather staid world of Swiss banking, overshadowing Tidjane Thiam’s attempts to overhaul the bank.
Mr Thiam and Mr Khan had previously been close allies, with the wealth management business a cornerstone in the chief executive’s turnaround plan. He pivoted the bank away from riskier trading activities, stabilising revenue.
The scandal, which emerged after Mr Khan defected to rival UBS, claimed the jobs of two senior Credit Suisse executives and resulted in a probe from the regulators – but Mr Thiam was cleared of involvement at the time.
But as the accusations escalated, a showdown between Mr Thiam and the board ensued. Urs Rohner triumphed: the man responsible for appointing Mr Thiam also determined his departure. Tidjane Thiam has for many years been a high profile figure in the financial world, even resorting to Instagram to put his message out, and denies any wrongdoing
The bank’s largest shareholders had publicly called for him to be retained; now the challenge for Credit Suisse is to persuade shareholders that his successor, bank veteran Thomas Gottstein, can continue to restore its fortunes.
Thiam has had an illustrious and varied career. The French Ivorian studied in France and worked in management consultancy before serving as Ivory Coast’s Minister of Planning and Development, until a military coup led to him being placed under house arrest.
He later became boss of financial services firms Aviva Europe and Prudential before joining Credit Suisse five years ago.
Mr Thiam had attempted to overhaul the Swiss bank, including increased focus on Mr Khan’s wealth management division.
While he had initially praised and promoted Mr Khan, there were reports a personal animosity had developed.
This intensified after Mr Khan redeveloped a property near Lake Zurich neighbouring that of his boss.
Media reports suggested there was an altercation between Mr Khan and Mr Thiam’s girlfriend at a cocktail party held by the chief executive at his home, over trees planted on Mr Thiam’s property.
Shortly after that Mr Khan announced his departure from Credit Suisse.
It later emerged private detectives were hired to track him due to fears he might poach clients when he started work at UBS.
Mr Khan, after noticing he was being tailed, had confronted the person observing him.
Source: bbc.com
