The Swiss cooperative bank's board reportedly wanted to grant disgraced ex-CEO Pierin Vincenz a huge goodbye payout through opaque means.
Pierin Vincenz (pictured below; image: Keystone) was to have been awarded 5 million Swiss francs ($5.4 million) upon leaving Raiffeisen in 2015, according to a report in Swiss weekly «Sonntagszeitung» (behind paywall, in German). The Swiss banker is due to stand trial on charges including misappropriation on a series of deals while running Raiffeisen.
Specifically, then-Chairman Johannes Rueegg-Stuerm was looking for ways to circumvent severance-style payouts – and presumably their disclosure, the outlet reported. One avenue the bank explored at the time was Investnet, a Raiffeisen acquisition.
«Troubling, At Least»
While the vehicle's management wasn't informed of the plans, Swiss financial regulator Finma later deemed them «troubling, at least,» the newspaper said. It doesn't clarify what, if any, payments to Vincenz came to pass.
Vincenz, who was feted as a welcome contrast to heavyweight bankers during the 2008/09 financial crisis, is in the midst of one of most tawdry scandals in Swiss finance in years. He spent nearly three months in custody in 2018 as part of the investigation into alleged wrong-doing involving a series of deals by Raiffeisen, which he ran for 16 years.
