Credit Suisse Chairman Horta-Osorio resigns after board probe into breach of COVID-19 rules

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Credit Suisse Chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio, who was being investigated by the bank’s board for breaching COVID-19 quarantine rules, has quit with immediate effect and board member Axel Lehmann has taken over the role.

Horta-Osorio’s resignation comes less than a year after he was brought in to clean up a corporate culture marred by Switzerland’s second-largest bank’s 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 in the early hours of Monday.

“I therefore believe that my resignation is in the interest of the bank and its stakeholders at this crucial time.”

In late December, Reuters reported in an exclusive story that a preliminary investigation by Credit Suisse (SIX:) found that Horta-Osorio breached COVID-19 rules a second time.

He attended the Wimbledon tennis finals in July during a visit to Britain when the country’s COVID-19 rules required him to be in quarantine, Reuters cited sources as saying. [L1N2TF08K]

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

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