Regulator probes ex-Credit Suisse CEO Gottstein: Swiss newspaper

SWITZERLAND’S financial regulator is investigating Thomas Gottstein, the former CEO of Credit Suisse, for his role in the implosion of a US$10 billion group of funds linked to disgraced financier Lex Greensill, according to a report published in SonntagsBlick. 

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority – or Finma – triggered enforcement proceedings against four unnamed former Credit Suisse staffers after concluding in February that the lender “seriously breached” its risk management obligations in the Greensill Capital supply-chain financing affair. 

Gottstein is among the Credit Suisse officials under investigation, the Swiss newspaper said on Sunday (Jul 2), citing people familiar with the matter whom it did not identify.  

Spokesmen for Finma and UBS Group, which has taken over Credit Suisse, both declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.

Finma’s powers to punish banks is limited as it cannot fine the institutions it oversees. Sanctions against individuals typically result in bans from financial services for a certain period, but rarely for a lifetime. 

The implosion of Greensill Capital in March 2021 saw Credit Suisse freeze and wind down a US$10 billion group of funds that the Swiss bank had marketed to clients as safe investments.

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Prior to the UBS merger, Finma criticised Credit Suisse for its lax approach to risk management and for clear conflicts of interest. Specifically, Credit Suisse made “partly false and overly positive statements” to Finma about the claims selection process and the funds’ exposure to certain debtors, the regulator said in February. 

Credit Suisse previously said about US$6.8 billion of the Greensill funds have since been returned to investors, and last month the bank agreed to pay out an additional US$200 million to investors of its supply-chain finance funds. BLOOMBERG