Ulrich Körner took over as CEO of Credit Suisse on Monday with the mammoth task of reviving Switzerland’s second largest bank after a series of scandals.
Reputedly more of a technocrat than a ship’s captain, his first job as CEO will be to conduct a strategic review to try to get the bank back in good working order.
His predecessor Thomas Gottstein, who resigned on Wednesday, has led Credit Suisse through two and a half years of turbulence but has not seen the group emerge from the storm.
New chairman Axel Lehmann, who has risen through the ranks of the bank’s main domestic competitor UBS, stressed Koerner’s deep knowledge of the sector at a crucial moment as Credit Suisse needs to accelerate its changes.
Koerner “is an experienced, transformative leader with excellent judgment and has shown the board that he understands the urgency of the task and the need to rebuild trust,” Lehmann said at a news conference.
– catalog of suffering –
In March 2021, the bank was rocked by the collapse of UK financial firm Greensill, in which around $10 billion had been invested across four funds, and then by the implosion of US fund Archegos, to which it had invested more than $5 billion cost.
In October, the US and UK authorities fined him $475 million for his loans to state-owned companies in Mozambique.
In January, Antonio Horta-Osorio resigned as chairman after it was revealed that he had broken Swiss Covid-19 quarantine rules.
And in June, the bank was fined $2 million in a money laundering case linked to a Bulgarian cocaine network.
Given the scope of the task, the Schweizer Tages-Anzeiger wondered if Koerner was the right man for the job.
Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Swiss investment manager Vontobel, told AFP: “He’s probably not a CEO in the traditional sense. But in the current situation at Credit Suisse, what is needed is probably not a visionary, but someone who can get things done, who can restructure.
“Also, he’s almost 60 so it’s probably his last high-profile managerial job. So he can perform without worrying about what comes after.”
– “Like a machine” –
Koerner, who holds a doctorate in economics, began his career at the consulting firm McKinsey.
Koerner held various positions at Credit Suisse between 1998 and 2009, in particular as head of activities for the Swiss market, before moving to UBS until 2020.
The German and Swiss returned to Credit Suisse in 2021 to transform wealth management after the Greensill affair.
He was notable for his ability to execute restructuring programs. As operations manager at UBS, he primarily transformed core functions in the head office “like a machine,” according to the Tages-Anzeiger.
However, doubts remain about his knowledge of human nature, the newspaper said.
“Koerner is a technocrat, not someone who motivates people,” an inside source told the daily.
And the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported that he was considered “someone of great intelligence” who, according to colleagues, could come across as brusque or arrogant at first.
However, this could “quickly dissolve” in favor of a “more committed” personality, added the NZZ.
The Ethos Foundation, which represents pension funds, hopes that Koerner, together with Lehmann, will “finally succeed in getting the bank back on track” and “restoring” the “trust” of employees and investors.
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