Finance

Credit Suisse fired a banker who forged a wealth-management client’s documents and cost the firm $11 million, new report says

FILE PHOTO: Switzerland's national flag flies beside a logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse at its headquarters at the Paradeplatz square in Zurich, July 31, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannReuters

  • A Credit Suisse banker drove a roughly 10 million franc ($11 million) loss after forging documentation for an African wealth management client, Bloomberg reported Friday.
  • The bank has since dismissed the Zurich-based banker involved and is in the process of reimbursing clients affected.
  • The case follows other high-profile controversies involving the bank, including its 2019 spying scandal and its selling of $1 billion in securities linked to now-bankrupt Wirecard.
  • Credit Suisse “took appropriate legal measures and informed the affected clients and relevant regulators,” the bank said in a statement.
  • Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

Credit Suisse suffered a 10 million franc ($11 million) loss after one of its bankers forged documentation for a wealth management client, Bloomberg reported Friday.

The bank fired the Zurich-based banker after discovering the forgery earlier this year. The case involved an African client, and losses connected to the fraud harmed other clients as well as Credit Suisse, sources familiar told Bloomberg.

The losses were posted to Credit Suisse’s division for Africa and non-resident Indian clients. Those affected are in the process of being compensated, according to Bloomberg.

“Credit Suisse confirms a case from the first quarter of 2020 in which a small number of clients were affected by unauthorized actions of a client advisor,” the bank told Business Insider in a statement. “Credit Suisse took appropriate legal measures and informed the affected clients and relevant regulators.”

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The scandal comes after other bank controversies in recent years. Credit Suisse made headlines in September when star banker Iqbal Khan filed a complaint that investigators followed him through Zurich after he left the firm for rival UBS.

A review of the incident found that Credit Suisse’s then-CEO Tidjane Thiam had no knowledge of the banker’s following. Chief operating officer Pierre-Olivier Bouee took the blame and resigned from the bank.

More recently, the firm has taken heat for offering loans to fallen cafe chain Luckin Coffee and selling roughly $1 billion in securities linked to now-bankrupt Wirecard. Credit Suisse’s new CEO, Thomas Gottstein, began a shakeup at the end of July to buttress the bank’s risk management efforts.

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Philipp Wehle, Credit Suisse’s CEO of international wealth management, is also revamping the division to curb similar missteps, according to Bloomberg. The firm aims to update its exposure to the oil and gas industries, as well as reform how it uses illiquid assets as collateral for some loans.

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