BEHIND THE FALL OF CREDIT SUISSE

Insiders and investors say the bank's board, headed by Urs Rohner, was: responsible for its fate

- Margot Patrick

• Other banks broke with the past after scandals and losses by changing leadership. Rohner remained one of European banking's longest-tenured and best-paid chairmen.
• Some royal family members were clients, and Rohner wanted their margin calls waived on loans, according to former executives with knowledge of the request.

When Credit Suisse’s board met to approve the bank’s forced sale to UBS in March, paintings of every bank chairman since 1856 lined the boardroom.

A lawyer from Zurich, Urs Rohner, was the last to get a portrait. Chairman between 2011 and 2021, he wasn’t there in person that day. But his tenure loomed over the proceedings. He had helped turn one of Switzerland’s most solid institutions into a tinderbox.

In the immediate aftermath of Credit Suisse’s demise, blame focused on external forces for causing the bank’s rich clients to flee, especially the panic that ensued after the surprise collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Switzerland’s patchy financial regulation played a role too.

But insiders and investors combing over the wreckage say that Credit Suisse’s board, headed by Rohner, was ultimately responsible. It was the bearer of a flawed culture that led the bank into a series of calamities.A Swiss parliamentary commission is studying the government’s role in the Credit Suisse rescue, including its oversight of the bank’s leadership.

In a speech this week, UBS Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti said Credit Suisse kicked its problems down the road and had "repeated risk-management and operational failures which undermined the credibility of its leadership and the board."

Former executives say that Rohner didn’t set the right tone from the top to contain risks, and that he and his board resisted making sweeping changes when there was still time.