23.12.2019
Since media revealed the observation of Peter Goerke, the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse Group has carried out internal and, with the support of Homburger AG, external investigations into this matter.
- It has been confirmed that Peter Goerke, who was a Member of the Executive Board at the time, was placed under observation by a third-party firm on behalf of Credit Suisse for a period of several days in February 2019.
- The investigation concludes that Pierre-Olivier Bouée, a former Member of the Executive Board, issued the mandate to have Peter Goerke put under observation. As was the case with Iqbal Khan, this observation was carried out via an intermediary.
- During questioning by both the Board of Directors and Homburger following the Iqbal Khan matter, the responsible individuals did not respond truthfully when asked about any additional observations and did not disclose the observation of Peter Goerke. Furthermore, when organizing and carrying out the observation of Peter Goerke, they took care not to leave any identifiable trace in the bank’s systems.
- The new investigation by Homburger did not find any indication that the Group CEO Tidjane Thiam, other Members of the Executive Board, or Members of the Board of Directors had any knowledge of the observation of Peter Goerke until media reported on it.
The Board of Directors considers the observation of Peter Goerke to be unacceptable and completely inappropriate. In no way did this operation – or the subsequent observation of Iqbal Khan – correspond to the corporate culture of Credit Suisse as promoted by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors has apologized to Peter Goerke for the observation.
As a consequence of the Iqbal Khan matter, the Board of Directors has already put safeguards in place to ensure that such incidents are not repeated. These include personnel decisions and the mandate to implement more rigorous internal policies. In addition, the Board of Directors has now decided to terminate for cause the employment agreement with Pierre-Olivier Bouée.
Urs Rohner, Chairman of the Board of Directors: “The observation of Peter Goerke, which has now been confirmed, is inexcusable. It is of grave concern that the responsible individuals failed to answer truthfully about this observation during the external investigation in September 2019. We are aware that the observations of Iqbal Khan and Peter Goerke have damaged the reputation of our bank. With the measures that we have put in place, we are sending a clear message that the Board of Directors firmly rejects a culture of observation.”
Credit Suisse will continue to cooperate closely with FINMA and now also with the FINMA-appointed independent auditor.
