Scandal-embroiled Raiffeisen nominated a new chairman. The appointee is a longstanding cantonal banker in Basel.
Guy Lachappelle was nominated as Raiffeisen Switzerland's new chairman, the Swiss lender said in a statement on Friday.
Currently CEO of Basler Kantonalbank, Lachappelle has extensive and substantive experience in banking as well as management, finance, distribution, and real estate. He also sits on several boards, including that of Switzerland's cantonal banks.
Herculean Task
The task awaiting Lachappelle is Herculean: Raiffeisen's board must be almost entirely replaced, a new CEO found, its regulator appeased, and the bank rehabilitated following the arrest of its former longstanding CEO on allegations of secret side deals while at the bank.
«With Guy Lachappelle, we are proposing a very experienced banker who can identify with Raiffeisen's cooperative values – and who has successfully proven himself in transformative situations,» interim Chairman Pascal Gantenbein said.
Decisive Steps
The 57-year-old Lachappelle will step down from Basler Kantonalbank effective October 22 in order to take the job at Raiffeisen, which is one of a handful of systemically relevant banks in Switzerland.
«Due to my experience and roles until now, I feel well-prepared to take chair an organization that stands before key decisions on its future course,» he said in the statement.
Four New Directors
He leaves the cantonal bank in the midst of a transformation which he initiated and has until now successfully led. The bank closed out a long-running tax spat just two weeks ago. At Basler, he will be temporarily replaced bySimone Westerfeld, who is his deputy we well as finance chief.
Raiffeisen is also naming four other board members along with Lachappelle: Karin Valenzano Rossi, partner with securities law firm Walder Wyss; Andrej Golob, an IT specialist and former executive at Swisscom and HP; Thomas Mueller, who is giving up his risk head job in top management at EFG International in order to join Raiffeisen; and Beat Schwab, who chairs the board of a property firm and has ties to Credit Suisse.
