Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Olivier Bouée resigned after an internal probe found he ordered the surveillance of the bank’s former wealth-management chief by private investigators without discussing it with Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam or other senior bank officials.
His decision set off a scandal that has enveloped the bank for the past two weeks, triggering an internal investigation at Credit Suisse and dealing Mr. Thiam one of the more unusual challenges he has faced at the bank.
The resignation of Mr. Bouée, part of Mr. Thiam’s inner circle of senior management, is effective immediately, the Swiss bank said Tuesday as it announced the findings of its probe.
“The board of directors considers that the mandate for the observation of Iqbal Khan was wrong and disproportionate and has resulted in severe reputational damage to the bank,” it said.
The internal investigation, carried out by Swiss law firm Homburger, found that the operating chief ordered the bank’s head of global security services to start the observation of Mr. Khan.
The bank said Mr. Bouée made the surveillance decision alone, without discussing it with Mr. Thiam or other board members.
“The Homburger investigation did not identify any indication that the CEO had approved the observation of Iqbal Khan nor that he was aware of it prior to Sept. 18, 2019, after the observation had been aborted,” the bank said in a statement.
Questions about whether the botched surveillance would threaten Mr. Thiam’s position as CEO should be settled, Chairman Urs Rohner said Tuesday. He said the board was confident from the investigation that Mr. Thiam played no role in the embarrassing events, based on interviews and a review of private communications.
No evidence was found suggesting that Mr. Khan tried to poach employees or clients, it said. The bank’s head of global security services also resigned.
Mr. Bouée will be replaced as operating chief by James Walker, who has held several roles at the bank including finance chief of its U.S. subsidiaries.
Mr. Khan has joined Swiss bank UBS Group AG, where he is scheduled to start work Tuesday. Mr. Khan negotiated the unusually short so-called gardening leave with Mr. Rohner, also without the involvement of Mr. Thiam, The Wall Street Journal reported previously, citing people familiar with the matter.
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On Sept. 17 in Zurich, Mr. Khan spotted an investigator following him and went to take photos of the investigator and his car, according to people familiar with the events. Mr. Khan filed a complaint with police, and Zurich prosecutors last week said “temporary arrests” had been made as part of the resulting probe. Prosecutors said they opened a criminal investigation into possible assault and threat based on Mr. Khan’s complaint.
A consultant who helped the bank hire investigators to trail Mr. Khan died in an apparent suicide last week, a lawyer in Switzerland said Monday.
Credit Suisse directors confirmed his death and expressed their condolences at a press conference Tuesday.
Despite the bank’s shares losing about half their value since Mr. Thiam took over in 2015, big shareholders have largely welcomed his restructuring moves. He quickly ramped up Credit Suisse’s focus on selling investment and trading products to ultrawealthy clients. He promoted Mr. Khan, hired in 2013 as the finance chief of the wealth management arm, to run the bulk of that business internationally.
The relationship between Messrs. Thiam and Khan deteriorated noticeably over time, people who know them said. The Journal and other outlets reported in recent days about tensions between the two men, especially in the past year, stoked in part by Mr. Khan’s rising ambitions.
They flared close to home, too: In a tony neighborhood overlooking Lake Zurich, Mr. Khan and his family redeveloped a house next to Mr. Thiam’s. The two exchanged heated words at a party in January this year at Mr. Thiam’s house, after Mr. Khan raised concerns with Mr. Thiam’s girlfriend about trees on the Thiam property, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Khan later had conversations with rival banks, including smaller rival Julius Baer Group Ltd., about leaving Credit Suisse for another job, stoking perceptions inside Credit Suisse that he wanted more power or could be looking to leave, people familiar with the matter said.
Credit Suisse on July 1 said Mr. Khan would leave the bank to pursue his career elsewhere. In a statement, Mr. Thiam wished him well. In late August, UBS named him co-head of wealth management.
Investigo, a small Zurich detective firm, in a statement provided to Credit Suisse and Swiss authorities last week said the firm’s mandate was to follow Mr. Khan at a distance and take pictures of people he met with.
—Pietro Lombardi contributed to this article.
Write to Jenny Strasburg at jenny.strasburg@wsj.com and Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/credit-suisse-coo-resigns-over-surveillance-scandal-11569908569
2019-10-01 05:42:00Z
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