Portuguese banker in shock Credit Suisse resignation
Credit Suisse chairman António Horta-Osorio has resigned from his seven-figure job just nine months after joining the bank following a probe that revealed he had broken UK quarantine rules twice.
The resignation of Horta-Osorio, the former CEO of Lloyds Banking Group, was announced by the Swiss-based bank on Monday in a shock move that comes less than a year after the banker was brought in to clean up the company’s corporate culture.
It is bad news for the bank, which has been blighted by a string of scandals over the past few years with its reputation being sullied through its involvement with the collapsed investment firm Archegos, and insolvent supply chain finance firm Greensill Capital.
Horta-Osorio has had a meteoric career in intentional banking, his star beginning rise when he was appointed chief executive of Santander.
He was one of the few internationally influential chief executives in the world who drew attention to mental health issues caused by stress and burnout after he went public and admitted that he had been grappling with anxiety and exhaustion while at the Lloyds Banking Group.
Credit Suisse said he had breached Covid-19 rules twice in 2021.
In a statement posted on the bank’s website, the 57-year-old Portuguese banker said: “I regret that a number of my personal actions have led to difficulties for the bank and compromised my ability to represent the bank internally and externally.
“I therefore believe that my resignation is in the interest of the bank and its stakeholders at this crucial time. I wish my colleagues at Credit Suisse every success for the future.”