Tidjane Thiam vs Swiss Establishment

The opposing faction doesn’t have a counter-concept to Thiam’s strategic plan for Credit Suisse: there are no demands for the Swiss bank to change tack, for example. The Thiam vs. establishment conflict is rooted in vanity, hubris, and perceived or real slights.

Ironically, when Thiam speaks in Zurich, he is witty, charming, and charismatic – and tends to have banker audiences eating out of his hand. The establishment's snub of him includes more than a dollop of racism, xenophobia, and «not one of us» in the mix.

Heavy-Handed Methods 

Thiam is no angel: the French-Ivorian executive has fostered a climate of extreme paranoia, mistrust, and spite in the highest echelons of Credit Suisse. He maintains a close-knit circle of allies and yes-men (and women) which previously included Pierre-Oliviér Bouée. Despite a recent charm offensive at home by Thiam, Credit Suisse has further alienated itself from its Swiss base.

None of these things is anything unusual on Wall Street – and indeed even surveillance through private dicks isn’t illegal, despite Swiss privacy laws. But the heavy-handed methods do rattle in Switzerland, where consensus-based decision-making is prized.

Through the ‘gram, Thiam wants to talk big-pictures like generational dynamics and legacy-building, as he did in a recent meeting with Hollywood millennial Jaden Smith. Meanwhile, Swiss banking’s rank-and-file are first peppered with questions about «spygate» when they visit clients – an untenable situation.

 

 

 

 

 

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Jaden Smith, actor, musician and entrepreneur, was the guest of honour at our dinner with the Young Investors Organization on Thursday evening of the WEF. Philip Wehle (centre) and I found him to be very inspirational, with lots to say on intergenerational dynamics and building legacies as a family to solve the world’s problems.

A post shared by Tidjane Thiam (@tidjane.thiam) on Jan 27, 2020 at 2:28am PST

Spillover to UBS

The open hostility between Zurich’s business and banking elite has led to an impasse – and it means spillover to UBS, where Thiam’s protegé-turned-archnemesis is now applying the Credit Suisse treatment to the rival's $2.5 trillion private bank.

Irregardless of what led to the showdown, it is now every banker for themselves. Credit Suisse’s board is AWOL (Chairman Urs Rohner is besmirched in the scandal; Severin Schwan, Roche CEO and deputy chairman of Credit Suisse, is shtum; and the establishment's hopes rest with Alexander Gut, the son of uber-Credit Suisse banker Rainer Gut), while leaks and indiscretions seep out daily.

 Claude Baumann contributed reporting