Credit Suisse (NYSE: CIK) CEO Tidjane Thiam is stepping down in the wake of a spying scandal and will be replaced by Thomas Gottstein who currently heads the bank’s Swiss unit.
In a statement Friday morning, the board of directors said it had unanimously accepted Thiam’s resignation, following the presentation of the Swiss lender’s fourth-quarter and full-year results. Chairman Urs Rohner said Thiam has made an “enormous contribution” to the bank since he joined in 2015. He will step down on Feb. 14.
“Under Tidjane’s leadership, Credit Suisse simultaneously repurposed our strategy, restored our capital, reduced our costs, de-risked our business, promoted diversity and engendered an exceptional level of co-operation between various divisions,” he said.
Thiam said he was proud of what his team had accomplished during his tenure, adding in a statement that they had “turned Credit Suisse around” and that he would be an “enthusiastic supporter” of his colleagues’ endeavors.
Last month, Credit Suisse announced that a second former top executive was snooped on at the behest of its then-chief operating officer, who resigned earlier over another such case.
External investigations turned up an operation early last year ordered by Pierre-Olivier Bouee, then the bank’s chief operating officer, to snoop on two former executives including a former wealth management chief, Iqbal Khan, who had joined rival Swiss bank UBS.
The French-Ivorian joined Credit Suisse from Prudential in March 2015. Credit Suisse shares were unchanged at Friday’s opening bell at $3.33