An important chapter in Swiss business comes to an end when Credit Suisse's shares are delisted on Tuesday. Very few institutions have weaved themselves into the country's very social fabric in the way it has.

Very few people know how UBS came to be. The same can't be said for Credit Suisse. The bank's founding 167 years ago by Alfred Escher, a Swiss entrepreneur, business leader, and politician, is common knowledge. Among other things, there is a large statue of him in front of the main train station in Zurich (image below).

The institution's history is also broadly positive. It made a significant contribution to Switzerland's industrialization. In the minds of many, it is associated with achievement, dependability, quality, foresight, and long-term thinking.

Alfred Escher memorial status in Zurich (Image: finews.com)

Those values also guided its corporate culture. But they seemed to get lost as the years passed, particularly in recent decades. Those who were ultimately responsible for the bank betrayed those very ideals and that ended up being a significant factor behind the bank's collapse.

«The Fish Stinks from the Head Down»

There are many different points of view about exactly when and how things started to go wrong. It is possible that its ultimate downfall can be traced back to the 1970s and 1980s when it started to work closely with First Boston, an investment bank with a completely different culture. The seeds of its future demise could also be in the long list of takeovers costing it billions. They never paid off and it may have simply bit off more than it could chew in trying to become a global powerhouse. Having distant shareholders in the Middle East also did not help as the bank was never able to follow any kind of consistent, effective, long-term strategy.

The large scandals of the past decade were also the result of reckless risk-taking with no sense of any kind of responsibility. It had a great deal to do with the culture −or more accurately, the complete lack of one. «The fish stinks from the head down» is a common thought that has been expressed in the past few weeks when trying to understand why Credit Suisse failed. That head not only had no competence or skill. There was no culture − or no culture of responsibility, something that all successful, long-term enterprises have – particularly in finance.

Unparalleled Hubris

In the past few weeks, former board members and executive leaders of Credit Suisse have made very prominent public statements that show practically no understanding of what has happened. They have not apologized or admitted to making any mistakes. There is no trace of any self-criticism. It is all very symptomatic of the bank's former culture.

Instead, with unparalleled hubris, they dance around the golden calf while trying to justify the millions of dollars they received in the form of pay and bonus over the years.

This all happened during a time when the Credit Suisse share price went from 95 Swiss francs in 2007 to below 95 centimes. The bank has put in the worst performance of any global, system-relevant institution since the 2007/2008 financial crisis. Looking at it from that point of view, Credit Suisse's ultimate downfall has been in the cards since 2007. Moreover, it was involved in practically every large-scale financial scandal in the world since then, something that says a great deal about the sense of responsibility the bank's previous leadership had.

Predictable Conclusion

Credit Suisse's bitter end is something that many Swiss do not really yet believe is also due to the complete failure of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma), the Swiss National Bank, and the Federal Department of Finance.

We still have not felt the deep repercussions of its demise, not financially and not in the job market. The reputational harm and loss of trust that Switzerland has suffered will have a substantial impact on the financial hub for a very long time and it will always be closely associated with Credit Suisse from now on.