Weakened by a spy case, Tidjane Thiam resigns from Credit Suisse

Text by: RFI Follow

Since last September, the Franco-Ivorian banker, managing director of Credit Suisse, has been at the center of a spy scandal targeting former bank executives and members of the NGO Greenpeace.

Publicity

It is the fall of one of the most influential Africans on the planet . The spinning mill business , which broke out last September, became far too embarrassing for the second Swiss bank, one of the flagships of the Swiss Confederation.

Even if Tidjane Thiam has always denied being involved in the affair, the investigations opened by the Swiss banking authorities as well as by the Zurich prosecutor's office undoubtedly pushed the Franco-Ivorian banker towards the exit . He will be replaced by Thomas Gottstein at the head of the group.

Greenpeace would also be targeted

Especially since the Swiss press has been multiplying the revelations for five months. Because Iqbal Khan, executive manager passed to the competition whose spinning was the first to be revealed, is not the only one to have been spied on. Private detectives hired by Tidjane Thiam's right hand also monitored a former human resources director .

But the case became unmanageable for him with the revelations published in the press last weekend concerning the surveillance extended to the environmental organization Greenpeace. Indeed, members of the NGO were also spied on.

Upon resigning, Tidjane Thiam reiterated that he was not aware of these illegal activities but he acknowledges that this affair disrupted his business. However, the one who is often considered a financial genius, had just arrived in 2015 at the head of the second Swiss bank to turn it around. And if he kept the support of the big foreign shareholders of the bank, the board of directors had become hostile.

Any other changes to come ?

However, it will probably take more than a change of face at the head of Credit Suisse to turn the page of the spy scandal, explains our correspondent in Geneva, Jérémie Lanche . Already because a criminal investigation, with perhaps convictions at the end, is underway. But also because there is an investigation by the Swiss gendarme of the financial markets. And according to his conclusions, the regulator could ask for other changes at the head of Credit Suisse.

For some, Tidjane Thiam is a collateral victim of the spy scandal. According to the Ethos foundation , which campaigns for responsible investment, the balance sheet of the Franco-Ivorian at the head of the bank is largely good. Undermined by the 2008 crisis, it has since returned to profit. For the foundation, if responsible there is, it would rather be to seek the side of the president of Credit Suisse, Urs Rohner, who was kept in his post by the board of directors despite strong internal criticism.

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Download the app

• Economy
• Ivory Coast
• Swiss

On the same subject

FINANCES

Swiss bank Credit Suisse in turmoil

Franco-Ivorian Tidjane Thiam at the head of Credit Suisse

Swiss

Credit Suisse employees don't want to wear the hat