Image copyright Reuters Credit Suisse’s chief operating officer has resigned after a probe found he initiated surveillance of an executive after he left to join rival UBS.
Private detectives were hired to track the Swiss bank’s former head of wealth management, Iqbal Khan in September, in a scandal that has rocked the normally staid world of Swiss banking.
Mr Khan left the bank in July.
There was no indication chief executive Tidjane Thiam, who had fallen out with Mr Khan, knew about the surveillance.
Mr Thiam has headed Credit Suisse for four years, undertaking a sweeping revamp of the global investment bank as it attempted to compete with larger Swiss rival, UBS.
Mr Khan, 43, was known as an ambitious manager, tasked with putting Mr Thiam’s strategy into action. He had doubled the profits at the International Wealth Management arm of the bank.
Initially Mr Thiam praised and promoted the younger banker.
But there were reports that a personal animosity had developed, which intensified after Mr Khan bought and spent two years redeveloping a property on Lake Zurich which neighbor
Media reports suggest there was an altercation in January between Mr Khan and Mr Thiam’s girlfriend at a cocktail party held by the chief executive at his home, over trees planted on Mr Thiam’s property.
Shortly after that Mr Khan announced his departure from Credit Suisse.
‘Severe reputational damage’
But the scandal resurfaced in September when it transpired that the bank had hired corporate intelligence firm Investigo to track Mr Khan, due to fears he might poach clients when he started work at UBS this week.
The ensuing scandal has focused on who within Credit Suisse instigated the operation to have Mr Khan followed, and who was aware of it.
As a result Credit Suisse hired law firm Homburger to establish responsibility.
The personal relationship between Mr Thiam and Mr Khan was not part of the investigation, Credit Suisse said.
“The Homburger investigation did not identify any indication that the CEO had approved the observation of Iqbal Khan nor that he was aware of it prior to September 18, 2019, after the observation had been aborted, “the bank said.
Credit Suissesaid thatthe decision to observe Mr Khan was “wrong and disproportionate and has resulted in severe reputational damage to the bank”.
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