Credit Suisse chief, architect of new strategy, quits over COVID-19 breaches

By Anshuman Daga

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Credit Suisse's Chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio has resigned after flouting COVID-19 quarantine rules, raising questions over the embattled lender's new strategy even as it tries to recover from a string of scandals.

Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN), Switzerland's No.2 bank, said Horta-Osorio resigned following an investigation commissioned by the board.

The resignation comes less than a year after he was brought in to clean up the bank's corporate culture marred by its involvement with collapsed investment firm Archegos and insolvent supply chain finance firm Greensill Capital.

"I regret that a number of my personal actions have led to difficulties for the bank and compromised my ability to represent the bank internally and externally," Horta-Osorio said in a statement issued by the bank on Monday.

"I therefore believe that my resignation is in the interest of the bank and its stakeholders at this crucial time," he said.

In December, Reuters reported that a preliminary internal bank investigation had found that Horta-Osorio attended the Wimbledon tennis finals in London in July without following Britain's quarantine rules.

The Portuguese banker also broke COVID-19 rules on a visit to Switzerland in November by leaving the country during a 10-day quarantine period.

Credit Suisse, which announced a new strategy in November aimed at curbing a freewheeling culture that has cost it billions, said board member Axel Lehmann had taken over as chairman with immediate effect.

Lehmann, the board and the executive board would continue to implement Credit Suisse's strategy, the bank said.

Lehmann was formerly a member of rival UBS' group executive board after a nearly two decade stint at Zurich Insurance Group (OTC:ZFSVF)