Some Credit Suisse shareholders don’t want to absolve executives of Greensill losses

ZURICH (Reuters) – Some shareholders in Credit Suisse (SIX:) do not want the bank to hold a vote in the annual meeting on absolving senior executives from losses racked up in the Greensill affair, The Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Investors have also raised concerns with new Chair Axel Lehmann over the bank’s decision not to publish a report into the lender’s failings around the collapse of Greensill last year, the paper said.

Credit Suisse racked up a 1.6 billion Swiss franc ($1.72 billion) loss as a result of the collapse of $10 billion in supply chain finance funds linked to Greensill and a $5.5 billion hit from the implosion of investment fund Archegos.

Under Swiss corporate rules, directors can be held responsible for wilful or grossly negligent violations of their duties, with shareholders asked each year to free them from legal liabilities for the previous year.

Approving the vote waives the directors’ or management’s liabilities, but only applies to facts that have been disclosed to shareholders and the claims of the company and shareholders who approved it.

“How can we let them off the hook when we don’t know the full details of what happened?” one shareholder told the FT.

Switzerland’s second-largest bank has been working to recover assets from the collapse of Greensill.

The bank said last month it had recovered $7.3 billion in the funds that it suspended in March 2021 and has filed a total of 11 insurance claims.

The bank is due to publish its agenda for the AGM in the coming days. A spokesperson declined to comment to Reuters on Sunday.

Credit Suisse commissioned Swiss lawyers Walder Wyss and accountants Deloitte to investigate the case.

The report they produced has been completed and shared with the bank’s board and Swiss financial watchdog FINMA, but “in light of the ongoing recovery process and the legal complexities of the matter, there is no intention by the Board to publish the report,” the bank said in February.

($1 = 0.9303 Swiss francs)