Credit Suisse CEO Thomas Gottstein says he intends to learn the lessons of the Archegos and Greensill disasters, but appealed to  clients for patience.

Credit Suisse CEO Thomas Gottstein said Thursday his top priority in the coming months would be cash refunds to investors in the Greensill supply chain finance funds.

«We have already paid out two-thirds and will continue along this path,» he said in a conference call on the bank’s second-quarter results.

He said he expected this to be completed in the third quarter.

«We’ll do everything we can to get the money back,» Gottstein said

However, he conceded there was greater uncertainty surrounding the loans made to steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, construction company Katerra and coal producer Bluestone.
«We are conducting very active negotiations here,» Gottstein said.

Nevertheless, a final solution could take months, if not quarters, he added. He also did not expect the insurance companies to pay out quickly. «We are in the process of submitting our claims,» he said.

Solid Adjusted Result

Despite all of this Gottstein sounded an optimistic note.

«We can and will emerge stronger from this,» he said.

He also said there were positives in how the business performed in the second quarter.

«Adjusted earnings were solid, risk positions were proactively reduced and the capital ratio strengthened,» Gottstein said. The adjusted pre-tax profit of 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.4 billion) was the best in recent years, he added.

Staff Churn

He said that the bank would continue to build itself up.

«We will continue to invest in employees and technology in asset management, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in asset management and the investment bank.»
Gottstein also addressed the issue of staff leaving the bank.

«Staff turnover in the first six months of the year was no different than the average for the past seven years,» he said. At the investment bank, the number of new employees even exceeded the number of those leaving.

According to the presentation, churn in the first half of the year was around 5 percent of total headcount. Last year was the only year when this figure fell significantly, probably because of the coronavirus pandemic.