The Central Cast of Characters in Credit Suisse’s Spy Scandal
The Central Cast of Characters in Credit Suisse's Spy Scandal
(Bloomberg) -- With lurid accusations of private detectives and a confrontation in the streets of Zurich, the corporate spying affair enveloping Credit Suisse Group AG isn’t your typical banking scandal. The case threatens to engulf senior executives at the Swiss lender after its board of directors started a probe into the surveillance of former international wealth-management head Iqbal Khan.
Here are the main characters.
Iqbal Khan
The former star banker at Credit Suisse whose July exit sparked the crisis. He’d fallen out with Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam after a rapid ascent to the highest echelons of the bank. Khan, 43, joined Credit Suisse in 2013 after working at Ernst & Young’s Zurich-based assurance division and was named head of international wealth management in 2015. The business, one of three wealth units at the bank, became a star performer but his ambitions put him on a collision course with Thiam.
The pair’s animosity broke into the open after they argued at a party at Thiam’s home in January, according to Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger. Six months later, Khan departed and in August agreed to join crosstown rival UBS Group AG as co-head of wealth management. That spurred Credit Suisse to start keeping tabs on him to prevent him from poaching private bankers. He’s set to start his new role next week.
Tidjane Thiam
The Credit Suisse CEO’s increasingly testy relationship with Khan had been an open secret in Zurich’s close-knit banking circles. The former insurance executive joined the bank in 2015 and kicked off his tenure with a three-year turnaround that pivoted the firm from volatile investment banking and more toward wealth management, particularly in Asia, where most of the world’s millionaires are now being created.
The firm’s 2018 results saw the first annual profit in four years, and its shares have climbed 12% this year, a welcome respite for investors who’d seen them tumble by almost half over the previous three years. Thiam, 57, said in a July interview that he wished Khan well and that the bank had found a very good successor in Philipp Wehle, the unit’s former finance chief.
Pierre-Olivier Bouee
A longtime associate of Thiam’s, Bouee was named his chief of staff in 2015 and later became chief operating officer, responsible for global operations, IT and security. The Frenchman’s career has closely followed that of Thiam. They both moved to Prudential in 2008 from Aviva Plc, where they worked together for about four years. Bouee started his career in the French Treasury before he moved to McKinsey & Co. in 2000, where Thiam also worked.
Urs Rohner
The Credit Suisse chairman is likely to decide whose heads should roll, if any. Investigators are reporting directly to Rohner, 59, who has led the board since 2011 and hired Thiam. A former lawyer, he’s overseen a 70% decline in the lender’s share price while weathering the fallout from the global financial crisis, criticism over executive pay and even Greenpeace protesters interrupting a shareholder meeting. He said in a February interview with a Swiss newspaper that he hoped Thiam would still be in the job in 2021.
Investigo GmbH
The private security firm hired by Credit Suisse to take photos of Khan and identify any people he met, while avoiding getting too close to the target, according to a report sent to the bank and seen by Bloomberg. The company offers cash collection, investigations and security services and is frequently hired to check on people suspected of abusing welfare benefits. Investigo, based in Otelfingen, a 25-minute drive from Zurich, is led by brothers Swen and Cyrill van Altena, according to the Zurich companies register.
Axel Weber
The chairman of Khan’s future employer is watching closely from the sidelines. UBS has been running due diligence on Khan as recently as Wednesday, Weber, 62, told Bloomberg TV. “We have made our due diligence, believe me, as a bank in making close contact and making sure that there will be no regret moves,” he said, adding that Khan hadn’t started his new job at UBS and the matter was between him and Credit Suisse.
--With assistance from Jan-Henrik Förster and Patrick Winters.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Metcalf in London at tmetcalf7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Peter Eichenbaum
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