Credit Suisse Vice Chair Schwan steps down from board
Severin Schwan is also CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche.
Keystone / Georgios Kefalas
Credit Suisse announced on Monday that Vice-Chair Severin Schwan would not stand for re-election. This follows a reported rebellion by large shareholder groups at the Swiss bank.
“Severin Schwan, who joined the Board in 2014 and has acted as Vice-Chair and Lead Independent Director since 2017, has decided not to stand for re-election,” Credit Suisse said in a statementExternal link on Monday.
Schwan, who is also CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, had reportedly come under criticism that his two mandates don’t leave him enough time to fulfill his duties at the bank.
In the shake-up announced on Monday, Christian Gellerstad, who joined the board in 2019, will be appointed as Schwan’s successor. He will also take over as head of the compensation committee from Kai Nargolwala.
Schwan is departing alongside fellow directors Kai Nargolwala and Juan Colombas in a shake-up of directors. Colombas had only been on the board since last year.
“Severin and Kai, in particular, deserve the highest recognition for having helped steer the company through some challenging periods with commitment, perseverance and dedication,” said chairman Axel Lehmann in the statement.
The news came as the bank tries to shake off a series of risk-management scandals and a CHF1.6 billion Swiss franc ($1.75 billion) loss in 2021, down from a CHF2.7 billion profit in 2020, which has pummelled its stock price.
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