Tidjane Thiam to leave Credit Suisse

Tidjane Thiam, CEO of Credit Suisse, leaves the company amid spying scandal and volatile earnings.

The bank enjoyed the highest annual profit in recent years, but fragile earning at trading divisions was a last straw for the 57-year-old.

The profit amounted 3.419 billion Swiss francs, and it was the highest since 2010.

According to Thiam, the bank will keep on benefitting from the bet, made approximately five years ago.

He was very emotional while addressing journalists and executives in Zurich and also referred to the events surrounding the spying.

He declared that people in Switzerland have mixed feelings about him, and he tried everything best for the company to fix the situation.

Thomas Gottstein, one of the company’s veteran, will take his place. Gottstein is a longtime dealmaker and declared his commitment to the company. He described Thiam as his personal friend.

Gottstein announced on Thursday that after the periods of cost cuts the bank was now determined to reinvest in its businesses.

He noted that there are many opportunities to go forward, improve, and the improvement should be based on the reinvestment of surplus capital.

Tidjane Thiam – a controversial figure

Since appointed as the company’s CEO, Thiam was putting a lot of effort to make a stable and comfortable environment for the lenders, while improving banking activities.

Nonetheless, his tenure at Credit Suisse will always be considered controversial, as Credit Suisse, one of the highest authority banks in Europe admitted prying on two former executives.

The bank and Thiam both declared they knew nothing about espionage activities and one of the Thiam’s closest associate carried out the operation.

He said, leading such a complex organization always produces more opportunities to do better things.

He was regretful about the incidents and was leaving the company with “clear conscience”.

There are rumours that after his resignation, Thiam gained 30 million francs from the bank.

While Thiam was in charge, the operating costs decreased by 20% and net revenue shrunk nearly 13% since 2014.

It was catalyzer in profitability surge after three consecutive losses, reaching the best cost/income ratio after 2010.

The last year was very challenging in terms of banking revenues, but International Wealth Management saw them rising in the final quarter.

However, the analysts predicted wealth management inflows to be 28.7 billion francs for the year, which only amounted 23.1 billion.

Following Thiam’s resignation and huge controversy, Credit Suisse is starting an entirely new chapter, which could be a turning point in the company’s history.