The head of Switzerland's financial regulator publicly addressed the Credit Suisse surveillance scandal for the first time, signaling its investigation of the Swiss bank will be extensive and prolonged.
Credit Suisse's admitted surveillance of at least two top executives, Iqbal Khan and Peter Goerke, in the past year took on far more significance four weeks ago: Swiss financial watchdog Finma said it will probe the Swiss bank's corporate governance as a result of the scandal (criminal proceedings are already ongoing).
Credit Suisse has offered a full-throated apology for an apparent confrontation four months ago between a detective and Khan in a ritzy Zurich side street near the bank's Paradeplatz headquarters. Operating chief and long-time Thiam associate Pierre-Olivier Bouée, who ordered the observation, left the bank and was later sacked by Credit Suisse after a second spy incident surfaced.
Finma's Grasp
On Thursday, Finma chairman Thomas Bauer said the regulator isn't particularly interested in whether the Zurich-based bank put its bankers under surveillance or not, in an interview with Swiss daily «Tages-Anzeiger» (behind paywall, in German). Instead, Finma wants to know more about deleted messages between Bouée and the security staff to coordinate, Credit Suisse's drip-feeding of information on the matter, and potential «rogue» behavior by certain bankers, Bauer said.
«Using outside security firms is as such not a supervisory topic,» Bauer said. «However, we have open questions on governance in terms of documentation, on controls, to the handling of public information, and to the communication channels in the case in question.»
Deleted Messages
Bouée and Remo Boccali, Credit Suisse's then-head of security who was also sacked, are believed to have used Threema, an encrypted Swiss-based messaging service prevalent among bankers, to coordinate. The messages between the duo and a middleman who organized a private detective to spy on Khan and allegedly Goerke as well were later deleted, Credit Suisse said.
The scenario that Bouée went «rogue» on the surveillance without anyone else's knowledge is viewed as flimsy. The Frenchman met Thiam nearly 20 years ago at McKinsey; their careers have remained closely entwined ever since.
Executive Buddies
Bouée followed the French-Ivorian executive to British insurer Aviva in 2002 and, six years later, to Prudential PLC, where Thiam had secured the CEO post – a pattern they repeated four years ago when they joined the Swiss bank together.
The role is «POB,» as Bouée was known within Credit Suisse, will be investigated by an independent, Finma-overseen probe. Credit Suisse's law firm, Homburger, said it found that Bouée acted alone; Finma's investigators appear to have more extensive investigative reach.
