Mr. Lehmann, who joined the board of directors in early October after an extraordinary general meeting as chairman of the risk management committee, succeeds him with "immediate effect", specifies the bank in a press release. overnight from Sunday to Monday.
To formalize his presidency, the Board of Directors will propose his candidacy at the next general meeting scheduled for April 29.
Mr. Horta-Osório thus resigns only eight and a half months after his arrival at the helm.
Elected in the midst of turmoil at the end of April 2021, when the bank had been shaken in March by the bankruptcy of the British financial company Greensill and the implosion of the American fund Archegos, he had promised to put risk management back at the heart of the culture of the Bank.
This Portuguese banker had arrived at the helm with a solid reputation for having successfully straightened out the British bank Lloyd's.
But in December, his tenure was splashed by revelations in the press around quarantine rules he broke during a brief stay in Switzerland.
Mr. Horta-Osório resigned following an investigation commissioned by the board of directors.
“I regret that a number of my personal actions have led to hardship for the bank and compromised my ability to represent the bank internally and externally,” he said in the statement, putting however, forward the strategic realignment implemented since his arrival at the head of the bank.
The board of directors said it respected its decision and highlighted the solid experience of Axel Lehmann.
A former executive of UBS, Credit Suisse's rival bank, he also spent part of his career with the insurer Zurich Insurance, where he practiced for nearly 20 years.
© 2022 AFP