Credit Suisse chairman admits failure, anger to shareholders

Zurich: The chairman of Credit Suisse apologised Tuesday to shareholders for failures of the once-venerable bank and acknowledged the shock and anger felt as the troubled Swiss lender is set to be swallowed up by rival UBS in a government-arranged takeover.

Axel Lehmann, who took the top board job only last year after joining Credit Suisse from UBS in 2021, decried “massive outflows” of customer funds in October and a “downward spiral” that culminated last month as turmoil from a US banking crisis spilled overseas.

“The bank could not be saved,” he said, and only two options awaited a deal or bankruptcy. “The bitterness, anger and shock of those who are disappointed, overwhelmed and affected by the developments of the past few weeks is palpable,” Lehmann told what is likely the last Credit Suisse shareholder meeting in its 167-year history.

“I apologise that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust that had accumulated over the years and for disappointing you,” he said.

Protesters, including some hoisting a boat labelled “Crisis Suisse,” gathered outside the Zurich hockey arena hosting the meeting and some shareholders voiced their anger as they got their last crack at managers following a collapse of the bank’s stock price over the last decade and an impending merger engineered to sidestep investor

approval.

In 2007, Credit Suisse shares fetched as much nearly 88 Swiss francs (dollars). Today, they’re trading at about 80 cents.

As the stock skid worsened and jittery depositors pulled their money, Swiss government officials hastily orchestrated a $3.25 billion takeover by UBS two weekends ago. Political leaders, financial regulators and the central bank feared a teetering Credit Suisse could further roil global financial markets following the collapse of two US banks.

Crosstown competitor UBS has been known for a more conservative culture after surviving the 2008 financial crisis, thanks in part to a government bailout. Executives hope that the deal will close in coming months but acknowledged a complex transaction.

Some shareholders, who did not get to vote on the takeover after the government passed an emergency ordinance to bypass the step, came to hear managers explain what went wrong.

“The whole thing how this happened makes me a little bit angry,” said shareholder Markus Huber, 56, as he lined up to attend his first Credit Suisse annual meeting.