Credit Suisse confirmed on Wednesday the appointment of Ulrich Körner as the new Group Chief Executive Officer, effective from August 1. He is replacing Thomas Gottstein under whose leadership the bank struggled to recover from a series of scandals.
Körner is presently heading the asset management division at Credit Suisse after rejoining the bank in April 2021. Additionally, he worked for Credit Suisse in several roles, including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the financial services unit and CEO of Switzerland business.
His other banking experience includes an eleven years long tenure at UBS in between his times at Credit Suisse. There, he led the asset management division and headed business in the APAC region.
“This is a challenging undertaking but at the same time represents a great opportunity to position the bank for a successful future and realize its full potential,” Körner said in a statement.
Indeed, the bank has been reeling from several scandals for years now. Gottstein took over the charges in 2020 from Tidjane Thiam, who was ousted for his involvement in an internal Spygate scandal. Though he was expected to restore the bank’s reputation, the bank faced a series of other scandals that raised the demand for his exit too among the investors.
WorryingResults
Alongside the changes in top leadership, the Swiss bank announced its financials for the second quarter of 2022. The reported net revenues in the period came in at CHF 3.6 billion, slipping 29 percent from the previous year and 17 percent from the prior quarter.
The bank ended the quarter with net losses of CHF 1.59 billion ($1.6 billion), whereas the market expectation of this figure was to be around CHF 398.16 million.
The adjusted pre-tax income of Körner’s asset management unit decreased by 75 percent year-over-year to come in at CHF 31 million.
“Our results for the second quarter of 2022 are disappointing, especially in the Investment Bank, and were also impacted by higher litigation provisions and other adjusting items,” Gottstein added.
