Zurich (awp) – Less than a month after appointing a new CEO, Credit Suisse is continuing to overhaul its governing bodies. The Zurich bank has appointed a new financial director, a new operational director and a transformation manager responsible for advancing the vast restructuring project of the establishment in difficulty.
Dixit Joshi, 50, will replace CFO David Mathers from October 1, who announced his retirement at the end of April after spending 11 years in this position, the two-veiled bank said in a statement on Monday.
Mr. Joshi began his career in 1992 with Standard Bank of South Africa, before moving in 1995 and until 2003 to Credit Suisse in New York and London. After a stint at Barclays, the British national worked from 2011 for the German bank Deutsche Bank, in particular as group treasurer.
Credit Suisse has also recruited an operational director, a newly created function, in the person of Francesca McDonagh, aged 47. The former boss of the Irish establishment Bank of Ireland, which she had led since 2017, was initially appointed at the end of April as head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) region of Credit Suisse. The British-born official will assume her new role from September 19.
Francesco De Ferrari, who served as interim manager of the Emea region, will now assume this position as a full member.
The Zurich bank, entangled in numerous and costly affairs, had found a new general manager at the end of July in the person of Ulrich Körner to succeed Thomas Gottstein who had thrown in the towel after two years. Mr. Körner had headed the asset management division of Credit Suisse since June 2021. He took up his new position at the head of the establishment on August 1.
The asset management division, which combined the costly Archegos and Greensill cases, will be managed on an interim basis by Michael Rongetti. The latter also retains his title of Head of Asset Management Americas and Global Head of Investments and Partnerships.
Acceleration of transformation efforts
The bank, which suffered a net loss of 1.59 billion Swiss francs in the second quarter, is also making progress in its restructuring with the appointment on September 1 of Michael Bonacker as head of transformation, a new function in which he will be responsible for ” oversee the cost management of the group,” explained Credit Suisse.
According to Ulrich Körner, these appointments come as the group “wants to accelerate (its) efforts to make Credit Suisse stronger, simpler and more efficient” and to generate “more sustainable income”.
Credit Suisse intends to strengthen its wealth management, asset management and universal banking activities in Switzerland. As for investment banking, it will be focused on more targeted activities, in particular consulting, which require less capital.
The overhaul of activities should also allow Credit Suisse to reduce its cost base to less than 15.5 billion Swiss francs in the medium term, against 16.8 billion at the end of June. The reduction in expenses between 1 and 1.5 billion will take place in part thanks to a group-wide digital transformation.
These appointments represent “a step in the right direction to stabilize the bank”, which can now “focus on its new strategy”, said analysts at the Cantonal Bank of Zurich in a note.
The news portal Inside Paradeplatz, for its part, pointed out that Mr. Bonacker was part of the close guard of Ulrich Körner, when the latter officiated at the competitor UBS.
Credit Suisse shares did not really benefit from these announcements, temporarily falling below the historic 5 Swiss franc mark after the opening. Around 11:30 a.m., registered shares fell 0.8% to 5.0 Swiss francs in an SMI index down 0.85%. Since the beginning of the year, the title has melted by 42.2%.
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