5 facts about Credit Suisse chairman
Reuters - Credit Suisse chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio resigned on Monday after an investigation by the Swiss bank's board into his personal conduct.
He will be replaced by Axel Lehmann, who joined the Credit Suisse board in October to head its risk committee after a series of scandals.
Here are five facts about Lehmann.
Lehmann, 62, joined the Risk Committee of Credit Suisse in October 2021. He moved from Swiss bank UBS, the Swiss lender, which has enjoyed a better recent history than its cross-town rival.
Lehmann served on the board of UBS from 2009 to 2015 before joining its executive ranks. He was appointed UBS's chief operating officer in 2016 and held that position for two years before becoming president of Personal and Corporate Banking and president of UBS Switzerland between 2018 and 2021.
Prior to joining UBS Lehmann, he worked briefly at Swiss Life before holding a series of top positions in Zurich. He was chief executive of the insurer's European and then North American businesses before becoming Zurich's chief risk officer between 2009 and 2015.
Lehmann was drafted in to Credit Suisse to get its risk management back on course, but his interest in digital may also be tapped by the bank.
He helped set up digital factories in Zurich to develop and roll out new online platforms for its clients around the world, while at UBS.
He also announced early last year that UBS would close one in five bank branches in Switzerland, as the pandemic shifted the acceleration to online banking.
Lehmann is a Swiss citizen, meaning that the lender is breaking a tradition that either its chief executive or chairman is a foreign national, since CEO Thomas Gottstein comes from Switzerland.
Lehmann is an adjunct professor at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland, where he earned his PhD.
Lehmann said he is not likely to ask the bank to change the turnaround course set by Horta-Osorio or Gottstein.
Lehmann told Reuters on Monday that Gottstein was absolutely central to the bank.