Credit Suisse Chief Executive Thomas Gottstein addresses the Finanz und Wirtschaft Forum conference in Zurich, Switzerland, September 2, 2020.
Arnd Wiegmann | Reuters
Credit Suisse CEO Thomas Gottstein is about to step down from the embattled investment bank, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The Zurich-based bank will soon announce the departure of Gottstein after a tenure that included a series of embarrassing mishaps and several unprofitable quarters, according to the Journal. His replacement couldn’t be determined, the newspaper said.
Candice Sun, a spokesperson for the bank, declined to comment on the report.
Credit Suisse is set to report second-quarter results on Wednesday, and it has already warned investors that it will lose money. The bank blamed worsening economic conditions in Europe and Asia for the loss.
Gottstein, a two-decade veteran of Credit Suisse, took over in early 2020 from predecessor Tidjane Thiam, who resigned after a spying scandal. Gottstein was soon wrestling with the costly fallout from the meltdown of two key clients: the Archegos family office and supply-chain finance firm Greensill.
Investors have been calling for change atop Credit Suisse amid the risk management failures and a sagging stock : Shares of the bank are down 46% this year.
That’s considerably worse than the 21% decline of the U.S.-centric KBW Bank Index; American banks reported mixed second-quarter results earlier this month, with sharp declines in investment-banking revenue, but all six of the biggest U.S. banks had profitable quarters.
