Credit Suisse: bank destabilised as Horta-Osório fails Wimbledon test

António Horta-Osório joined Credit Suisse as chair to rebuild its crumbling reputation. He is leaving his mark – in exactly the wrong way. The former chief executive of Lloyds has resigned after breaching UK and Swiss coronavirus rules. Notably, he attended the 2021 Wimbledon men’s tennis finals, won by vaccine sceptic Novak Djokovic. Credit Suisse has supplanted Deutsche Bank as the European lender that can get nothing right. Its catalogue of disasters includes a spying scandal, the collapse of invoice lender Greensill and the implosion of hedge fund Archegos Capital. Credit Suisse has also failed to capitalise on the powerful rebound for investment banks since March 2020. Shares trade at just half book value, compared with the 0.8 multiple for European banks. Horta-Osório had just the right mix of diplomacy and toughness to stabilise Credit Suisse as a hands-on chair. But a penchant for occasional but serious lapses of judgement has let him down. Public figures cannot appear...