Credit Suisse has produced a spate of scandalous headlines recently – reason enough for an American ethics experts to pen an open letter to Chairman Urs Rohner.
The headline of the open letter to Urs Rohner, chairman of Credit Suisse offers «An Easy Way To Get Better Publicity». The author is the «ethics guy», Bruce Weinstein (pictured below), who runs something called the U.S. «Institute for High-Character Leadership» and has made a name for himself as a public speaker and author on business ethics, including a column in «Forbes».
The U.S. finance magazine published the open letter, which begins with a pop quiz: «Which headline would you rather see in the news?» The options are:
a) Credit Suisse Fined $77 Million In Corruption Inquiry
b) Despite Reports, Credit Suisse Is Not Done With Its Sticky Intern-Touching Mess
c) Credit Suisse Pick That Went Sour Ends Up In Banker Appeal
d) Urs Rohner Is The High-Character Chair Of The Month
Even irregular readers of finews.com will know that option d) is fictional; the others headlines were all published in recent weeks by«New York Times», «Dealbreaker» and «Bloomberg».
No Obsession...
«What the hell you think you’re doin'?» Weinstein asks of Rohner on behalf of Credit Suisse's shareholders. And he also deflects Credit Suisse's – and Rohner's – prickliness at criticism: despite what the bank may believe, financial journalists aren't «obsessed» with errant leaders, he writes.
Weinstein writes that he would prefer to showcase upstanding leaders – especially when they directly benefit a company's employees and bottom line. Instead, he gives Rohner three recommendations to improve, or ultimately risk his job.
Back it Up or Take a Time-Out
The first is to live and breath Credit Suisse's code of conduct, where the bank lays out its ethical values and professional standards. Credit Suisse's behavior doesn't suggest the bank takes its code very seriously, Weinstein posits.
«You can no longer afford to say one thing and do another», he says – shareholders will demand improvements, or invest elsewhere.
The second is taking a «time-out»: as parents of any toddler the world over know, the measure is meant to take a quiet moment to reflect on behaviors, and (hopefully) think about changes. Rohner and Credit Suisse's board should give themselves a time-out to list the bank's ethical values (there are six, click here if you can't remember them either) by rote.
Ethical Leadership
Rohner should then lead the board in a deep dive of every value, applying them to recent situations like its recent hiring bribery scandal, a banker allegedly behaving badly at a Wall Street summer party, or its flip-flop on a former Credit Suisse private banker in Geneva, Weinstein orders.
High-character leadership would also mean that Rohner and other board members set examples in the firm and highlight employees «whose honesty, accountability or courage resulted in a clear, quantifiable benefit to the company», Weinstein prescribes.
The bank has the free will to decide which path to take, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, Weinstein concludes: «You have the power, Mr. Rohner. But do you have the will to make good use of it?», he asks.
«Clean Personal Record»
Long-time observers of Rohner and his track record are right to be skeptical: the chairman cited his «clean personal record» after Credit Suisse pled guilty in a $2.5 billion American tax evasion probe. Given that Rohner was Credit Suisse's top lawyer for a good part of the U.S. investigation, his statements were taken as pure chutzpah.
He has also proven immune to criticism from shareholders over what they view as outsize bonuses and pay packages for top management – at least until last year, when Credit Suisse was forced to back down or risk repudiation from major shareholders (Rohner later admitted misjudging the situation).
Knowing full well that Rohner has bucked criticism and opposition from shareholders until now, Weinstein warns that if the chairman doesn't address the ethical issues now, «there will be an uprising, and you will be ousted from your estimable position on the board.»
