Credit Suisse Group AG emerged as the big loser in global investment banks’ race to the exits following the implosion of Archegos Capital Management, with the fiasco leading to a quarterly loss and a major shakeup at the top of the Swiss bank.
The firm will take a 4.4 billion franc ($4.7 billion) write-down tied to its Archegos exposure, forcing it to cut its dividend and suspend share buybacks. The company’s investment bank head and chief risk officer were among more than half a dozen executives replaced over the worst trading debacle in over a decade.
While Credit Suisse was far from the only bank that allowed Bill Hwang’s family office to lever up large positions in a few stocks, others managed to unwind their exposure quickly with minimal damage. That raised questions over Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein’s handle on the firm’s risk just weeks after the lender was caught up in another implosion of a little-known financial player.
“Serious lessons will be learned,” Gottstein said Tuesday in a statement. The Archegos loss “is unacceptable.”
Credit Suisse has now offloaded the bulk of its Archegos exposure, helped by a $2.3 billion sale this week. But the impact of that latest sale and any remaining positions could affect second-quarter results, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, after the Archegos hit caused a 900 million-franc pretax loss in the first quarter.
The firm is still set to give an update on the effect of last month’s collapse of Greensill Capital, which helped manage $10 billion of investment funds the Swiss bank offered to asset management clients. Credit Suisse is leaning toward letting clients take the hit of expected losses in those funds, a person familiar with the discussions said. Analysts expect years of legal costs tied to the matter.
“The long-term consequences will be felt in the bank over time” as Credit Suisse needs to prioritize capital preservation over growth, analysts Kian Abouhossein and Amit Ranjan at JPMorgan Chase & Co. wrote in a note.
Credit Suisse rose 0.7% at 2:34 p.m. in Zurich trading, paring losses this year to 10%. The bank’s bonds gained in early trading as the dividend cut and suspension of buybacks prevented a bigger hit to its capital strength.
Among the executives to leave are investment bank head Brian Chin and risk chief Lara Warner. Gottstein previously removed Eric Varvel from his role running asset management after Greensill’s downfall. In a memo to staff Monday, Credit Suisse also announced at least five other departures, including equities trading chief Paul Galietto.
Christian Meissner, the former Bank of America Corp. executive who joined Credit Suisse in October, will take over from Chin next month. Joachim Oechslin will become risk chief in the interim, a role he held until 2019 when Warner took over. Thomas Grotzer was named interim head of compliance.
The bank cut its dividend proposal for 2020 to 10 centimes a share, from about 29 centimes, and suspended its share buyback until its common equity Tier 1 ratio, a key measure of capital strength, returns to the targeted level. Credit Suisse said it expects a CET1 ratio of at least 12% in the first quarter. It had aimed for at least 12.5% in the first half of this year.