At Credit Suisse's last Annual General Meeting, management is booed

Credit Suisse Chairman Axel P. Lehmann speaks at the banking group's Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Zurich on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. AP - Michael Buholzer

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The bitterness and anger of Credit Suisse shareholders. The bank, which was bought out by UBS, held its last general meeting in Zurich on Tuesday 4 April. An appointment for not much, now that the establishment no longer really controls its destiny. But the small holders took the opportunity to attack the management, accused of having let sink the second bank of Switzerland.

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With our correspondent in Geneva, Jérémie Lanche

Organized flight! You don't deserve more than five francs in salary. You should be in jail! How do you manage to sleep at night? These, in essence, were the kind of compliments that the boss of Credit Suisse received, impassive during all the speeches of the small shareholders that followed one another at the rostrum of the Hallenstadion in Zurich, the largest multipurpose hall in the country.

Asked to apologize for Credit Suisse's calamitous management, Axel Lehmann tried to make amends: "We wanted to straighten things out with all our might," he said. But we ran out of time. That catastrophic week in March totally changed our plans. It pains me. We have disappointed you. And for that, I apologize.

Credit Suisse shareholders at the Group's Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 in Zurich. AP - Michael Buholzer

More than 1,700 shareholders made the trip for this last general meeting. Some have lost everything, now that Credit Suisse shares are worth only a few cents. But the anger of small shareholders did not weigh much in the face of the resignation of large shareholders. The Annual General Meeting finally renewed Credit Suisse's management until UBS takes over its own Annual General Meeting on Wednesday. The climate should be a little less electric.

► Read also: The Swiss national prosecutor's office opens an investigation into the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS

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• Switzerland
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