It’s time for the mea culpa. Credit Suisse held yesterday what will be its last shareholder meeting in the 167-year history of the entity. The president of the bank, Axel P. Lehmann, in his speech before the assembly, apologized for the disastrous management that led the entity to be absorbed by its rival UBS to avoid its disappearance. “I’m really sorry. I apologize because we were no longer able to stop the loss of trust that had accumulated over the years and for having disappointed them”, said the executive yesterday. With a broken voice, he said: “Credit Suisse, with its long and rich history, is now making a historic turn. We are very sorry and, personally, this moment also saddens me”.
“Ultimately, there were only two options: agreement or bankruptcy,” he exclaimed, to defend the opportunity of the purchase by UBS. The top executive of Credit Suisse, apart from making self-criticism, accused “social networks and digitization of having fueled the banking fear that shook us at our most vulnerable point”.
However, it was clear to shareholders who went to the meeting that Credit Suisse’s managers were most responsible for the bank’s collapse. There were very heated interventions, in which more than one shout was uttered. Here are some.
“You wanted to play in the Champions League of the banks at any price, helping people to evade taxes”. “The same thing always happens: privatization of the profits, but nationalization of the losses. It is the taxpayers in the end who pay.” “You must have pocketed some 32 billion Swiss francs in bonds. Can you sleep at night?â€. “It is undesirable that there are so many managers who have continued to collect, when some should have gone to prison”. “In the Middle Ages, for actions like these, those responsible for the organization would have been crucified.”
Alex Lehmann held his own and remained unfazed under the crossfire of criticism. “It would have been worse if we hadn’t reached an agreement with UBS. We would have lost up to 100% of the capital. It was an emergency situation, we had to see which options were safer. And the truth, we didn’t have much to say”, he admitted.
The Ethos Foundation, which advises minority shareholders, denounced the “greed and incompetence of its managers”, as well as salaries that reached “unimaginable levels”. “The use of emergency powers by the Government to promote this operation goes beyond legal and democratic norms,” ​​accused Dominik Gross, of the Swiss Alliance of Development Organizations. “The Government, the regulator and the central bank have given few explanations about the loss guarantee of 9,000 million francs from the State to UBS”, he added. By the way, the shareholders, after a vote, refused to pay 34 million fixed remuneration to the current executive leadership for the financial year 2022, but confirmed Lehmann as chairman until the merger is completed.
