Credit Suisse to pick risk experts after fund fiasco

ZURICH: Credit Suisse said Friday it will name two risk management veterans to its board of directors after the Swiss banking giant was rocked by meltdowns at financial firms Greensill and Archegos.

The bank's new chairman, Antonio Horta-Osorio, has vowed to make risk management a priority since he took over in April in the wake of the financial fiascos.

Credit Suisse said it was proposing Axel Lehmann, a former executive at Swiss rival UBS, as chair of the risk committee. The Swiss is an adjunct professor at the University of St. Gallen.

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He would take over for Richard Meddings, who has been interim chairman of the risk committee since his predecessor abruptly resigned in April.

It also nominated Juan Colombas, a non-executive director and member of the audit and risk committees at Dutch bank ING, to serve on its board. The Spaniard is also a former executive at Lloyds Banking Group.

Credit Suisse will hold an extraordinary general meeting of its board on October 1 to elect the two new members.

Horta-Osorio said in a statement that the two, with their three decades of experience in financial services, "will make an invaluable contribution as we shape the bank's strategic realignment and enhance our culture of risk management and personal responsibility and accountability."

The implosion of US hedge fund Archegos earlier this year cost Credit Suisse some $5.5 billion.

An independent external investigation into the Archegos fiasco found a failure to manage risk effectively at Switzerland's second biggest bank.

The bank has also been repaying billions of dollars to investors who placed money in funds linked to the collapse of British financial firm Greensill.

An investigation into the Greensill affair is expected to end in the third quarter.