The recent leadership appointments leave a very ambivalent impression. They also don't answer the most important question.

There is an additional problem confronting Credit Suisse besides all of the business difficulties it currently finds itself in. That of trust. It has been fighting for its reputation, at the very latest, since the Greensill Capital and Archegos debacles. Its CEO, Thomas Gottstein, is under pressure more so than any other head of a Swiss bank has been for a very long time. The share price is down by half since March 2021, leaving little doubt of the trouble that the bank is in.

Reputation has very much to do with the individuals leading a company. Credit Suisse has failed to take advantage of than several times in the past. The intermezzo with António Horta-Osório as chairman was simply embarassing. They only managed to appoint the head of its most important business, Global Wealth Management, on the second try by appointing Francesco De Ferrari. The leadership position for European wealth management was vacant until this week and managed by De Ferrari on an interim basis.

No Successors

One would have thought Credit Suisse would have learned from its past mistakes. But this week's appointments seem to indicate otherwise. They are not consistent and they will not engender any new trust in the bank.

That the head of finance David Mathers is leaving after many years is his right. But why has Credit Suisse not managed to find a successor and announce him or her on the same day? Ostensibly they are still looking for an internal and external replacement, as they indicated Wednesday. Did Mathers simply serve them with a fait accompli?

That all means that a great deal of time will pass until someone is sitting on the important post of the chief financial officer.

Clear Assessment

Credit Suisse does seem to have found a replacement for departing general counsel Romeo Cerutti in Markus Diethelm. But he does not come without controversy.

For some, he managed to make the most of the French tax case for his former employer, UBS by being very engaged personally. Other observers said his fundamentally confrontational approach with the French investigators was a highly risky one.

What stands him in good stead is his enormous know-how in US legal matters, which will serve Credit Suisse well related to its outstanding cases. On the other hand, Diethelm is 65 and at an age when many other top bankers have been in retirement for a long time.

First Class Investment Banker

In Asia, Edwin Low succeeds Helman Sitohang as a first-class investment banker at the top. But he still has to prove how much he understands Credit Suisse's largest business, wealth management.

The appointment of Francesca McDonagh is likely to raise criticism. She is taking leadership of the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region after it was officially disclosed that she was resigning her post as CEO of the Bank of Ireland.

Salary Cap Refusal

In the «Financial Times» (behind paywall) she was touted as another example of a bank manager that no longer wanted to accept the 500,000 euro legal pay cap on salaries that has been in place for more than ten years. This, even though she was apparently one of the few managers who were paid a salary exceeding the cap of about 1 million Swiss francs (Annual Report, page 134).

There is a very good chance she will be earning somewhat more at Credit Suisse.

All in all, the appointments leave room for doubt, which is regrettable given the lack of trust the bank currently faces. But they also seemingly indicate that Gottstein is still firmly in the saddle at the top of Credit Suisse. And there are many different views on that in financial circles.