Credit Suisse COO quits over spying scandal

Credit Suisse’s chief operating officer has resigned after it emerged he was behind the spying scandal that has rocked the Swiss banking sector.

The Swiss investment bank said that Pierre-Olivier Bouée had taken responsibility and that his resignation had been accepted by the board “with immediate effect”.

His departure follows a probe into the affair by Swiss corporate law firm Homburger. It found that when head of wealth management Iqbal Khan resigned to join rival UBS, Bouée initiated his surveillance, including having him followed.

Chief executive Tidjane Thiam – who had reportedly fallen out with Khan despite the two once being on good terms – was cleared by Homburger of any involvement.

Instead, the bank said: “During the Homburger investigation, the chief operating officer said that he alone, in order protect the interests of the bank, decided to initiate the observation of Iqbal Khan and that he did not discuss it with Credit Suisse’s chief executive or any other member of the executive board, the chairman of the board of the directors or the chairman of its audit committee.

“The investigation did not identify any indication that the chief executive had approved the observation, nor that he was aware of it prior to 18 September, after the observation had been aborted.”

The bank added the surveillance had been “wrong and disproportionate” and had resulted in “severe reputational damage” for Credit Suisse.

Neither Homburger nor Investigo – the security firm employed to undertake the surveillance – found any evidence that Khan had poached clients.

James Walker, currently head of product control at the bank, will replace Bouée.