Credit Suisse Investors Blast Chairman, Board In Last Meet

Credit Suisse shareholders on Tuesday upbraided the Swiss bank’s leaders for years of mismanagement, scandal and obfuscation that sent its stock price into the gutter, while executives apologized and insisted that the only way forward for the once-venerable lender was a government-engineered takeover by rival UBS, Jamey Keaten reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Lehmann and other officers still got their bonuses approved by stockholders despite shepherding the bank into the maelstrom.

Axel Lehmann, who became Credit Suisse chairman only last year after joining the bank from UBS in 2021, decried “massive outflows” of customer funds in October and a “downward spiral” that culminated last month as a US banking crisis unleashed global financial turmoil.

“The bank could not be saved,” he said, and only two options awaited — a deal or bankruptcy. But Lehmann and other officers still got their bonuses approved by stockholders despite shepherding the bank into the maelstrom.

A couple dozen protesters, including some hoisting a severed boat labeled “Crisis Suisse,” gathered outside the Zurich hockey arena hosting the annual meeting, while shareholders and employees voiced their grievances as they got their last crack at managers.

Stepping to a podium, one blasted “bonus mania,” and another used a metaphor from Christianity to repeatedly ask, “When is enough, enough?”

Yet another held up walnuts as props, saying, “A bag of these is worth about one share.” One young investor took off his shirt to reveal a T-shirt with the words “Stop the Swindle” written in red.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic