Roche boss Severin Schwan is emerging as the kingmaker of a delicate succession plan at the helm of Credit Suisse. 

As Credit Suisse attempts to recover from a damaging, months-long spy scandal, its next pressing issue is coming into sharper focus. The Swiss lender needs to present a replacement for Urs Rohner, its chairman of nine years, by March. 

Severin Schwan, who is Rohner’s board deputy, is quietly emerging as the point person for a succession plan to be unfurled in stages at Switzerland’s second-largest bank in coming months. The CEO of drugmaker Roche since 2008, Schwan is an impeccably connected lawyer who has taken an increasingly active role at Credit Suisse, as Rohner comes under intense pressure.

Fostering Industry Stars

Besides being neutral, Schwan’s aptitude for identifying talent stands out: the two CEOs at the center of a potential AstraZeneca-Gilead merger are both former top executives at Roche during Schwan’s tenure (Pascal Soriot and Daniel O’Day).

Schwan was also instrumental in mediating the imbroglio following the spy scandal: CEO Tidjane Thiam went quietly, and Credit Suisse’s largest shareholder, U.S. fund house Harris which had wanted the CEO to stay, appears to be satisfied with Rohner’s departure in 2021 as well.

Not The Usual Suspects

The bank is likely to telegraph its intentions late in the year, when it holds another shareholder meeting. Schwan and others involved in the succession, like Kai Nargolwala, can present one or more new directors then – ensuring a glide path for an external candidate to come on board as a regular member before taking over for Rohner in April.

The most frequently mentioned names in banker circles – Blackrock executive Philipp Hildebrand and ex-UBS banker Ulrich Koerner – are probably the least likely. Hildebrand’s partner, Dreyfus chairman Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, borrowed $1 billion from Credit Suisse earlier this year against a stake in the commodities house. The conflict of interest would torpedo his nomination.

Fifty-seven-year-old Koerner knows both big Swiss banks inside out but lacks the expertise for a more fundamental technology shift, and the credibility for a cultural shift that Credit Suisse needs. With rivals like Revolut and N26 crowding into the Swiss market, Credit Suisse will be looking to someone to help it more forcefully adopt a digital transformation as a coherent response.

Glide Path To Top

To do so, it will have to be more imaginative than rounding up the usual Swiss suspects. Instead, the bank is very likely to opt for an element of surprise, akin to UBS’ unexpected choice of a digitally-fluent banker, Ralph Hamers, as its next CEO.

Credit Suisse boss Thomas Gottstein plays an important, indirect role in the search: in just over four months as CEO, the Swiss banker has helped mend fences at home with quick action on a $40 billion emergency loan bazooka, as finews.com wrote in March.

Could Gottstein’s newly-won credibility at home pave the way for a foreign-born chairman – like Mario Greco, a respected insurance veteran who currently runs Zurich? Credit Suisse investors could get a sneak preview as soon as October, the first chance for the bank to put up new directors.

Peter Hody contributed reporting