António Horta-Osório, the new(ish) chairman at Credit Suisse, has a playbook. It was written while he was the chief executive of Lloyds banking group, and it goes like this: first you take the helm of a new bank, next you analyze the “performance” and “competencies” of the leaders across that bank; within a year you clear out all those you find lacking.
Horta-Osório has been at Credit Suisse since early May, so is presumably embroiled in the performance analysis stage of this process. The Financial Times suggests that he has already discovered various issues in Credit Suisse’s most senior ranks.
A Swiss banking executive close to Horta-Osório says the chairman has been looking at the “management level” of the board – the executive team. Having first discovered that non-executives had “no real banking experience,” Horta-Osório has apparently found that Credit Suisse’s senior executives don’t have the right sort of banking experience either.
Most damningly – and worryingly if you work for Credit Suisse or are a shareholder, Horta-Osório reportedly thinks…
