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Credit Suisse Can’t Keep CEOs

Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Koerner began his tenure in 2022 and is set to reveal the company’s turnaround plan later in October.

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1 year ago

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Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Koerner began his tenure in 2022 and is set to reveal the company's turnaround plan later in October.

Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse (CS) is facing a crisis of confidence after being embroiled in a series of financial scandals, including a prior CEO who oversaw a $5.5 billion loss. 

The well-known Zurich-based bank, which got its start in 1856, has undergone a succession of CEOs during the past five years, which is not common for investment banks.

Ulrich Körner began his tenure at Credit Suisse only in August and had to cope with a series of financial missteps by the bank under the tenure of its previous CEO Thomas Gottstein who started at the beginning of the pandemic.

Gottstein resigned after the bank reported several unprofitable quarters, attributing the responsiblity on weak economic conditions in Asia and Europe.

Körner has the unenviable task of reassuring the hedge funds, pension funds and insurance companies who have watched their investment into the bank shrink rapidly as shares continue to plummet. 

Only a year ago, Credit Suisse had a market capitalization of $22.3 billion and could boast of surviving both the global pandemic and 2008 financial crisis. 

The second largest Swiss bank has seen over half of its market value wiped out and is now only worth $11.4 billion. Credit Suisse shares fell 56.2% in one year to $3.98 and rebounded on Tuesday.

The bank has been compared recently to Lehman Brothers, whose demise occurred after the financial crisis in 2008 when bankers' bets on mortgage-backed securities imploded. 

The bank is now contending with a sharp increase of its credit default swaps (CDS) in recent days. CDS are financial products that act like a form of insurance against default.

Ulrich Körner's Tenure 

Wikimedia Commons/UBS Group

For the past 24 years, Körner has served in executive roles either at Credit Suisse or UBS, the No. 1 Swiss bank. 

After working at McKinsey, the consulting company, Körner served as Credit Suisse CFO Switzerland from 1998 to 2000, then ran technology and services as CEO from 2000 to 2001. Following a stint as CFO from 2002 to 2005 for Credit Suisse/Credit Suisse Financial Services, he worked as COO for the division from 2004 to 2005.

For 11 years, Körner ran various divisions of UBS, serving as CEO of UBS Europe, Middle East and Africa from 2011 to 2019 and also served as CEO of UBS Asset Management from 2014 to 2019.

He returned to Credit Suisse as CEO of its asset management division from 2021 to 2022 and was named as CEO of the bank on Aug. 1.  

Körner recently addressed the growing speculation about the future of the bank in a memo to employees on Sept. 30 that was seen by TheStreet.

The CEO said that while "this is a critical moment" for the bank, he warned employees that the rumors would only continue.

He attempted to reassure them by stating that the bank's stock price does not determine its financial health or future.

"I trust that you are not confusing our day-to-day stock price performance with the strong capital base and liquidity position of the bank," Körner said. "We are in the process of reshaping Credit Suisse for a long-term, sustainable future - with significant potential for value creation. I am confident we have what it takes to succeed."

The losses at Credit Suisse do not appear to have a wider ranging impact currently and appear to be contained at the firm.

While Credit Suisse is a global company and is known for its mergers and acquisition deal making expertise, initial public offerings, bond sales and wealth management operations, its retail arm is focused mostly within Switzerland. 

Körner has stated that the bank will reveal its turnaround plan on Oct. 27, but the market and its employees may not have the patience to endure the scruntiny until that time.

Rumors that Credit Suisse's financial woes could spread like the failure of Lehman Brothers in 2008 appear to be premature at this point.

After Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, several other banks and insurance companies in the U.S. also failed.

Some companies were able to restructure and survived by being acquired by a competitor. Bear Stearns, another investment bank, was rescued when Bank of America acquired it. The largest U.S. residential mortgage lender Countrywide also went under, while another big residential lender Washington Mutual folded. Mega insurance company AIG had to be bailed out with billions in losses.

Thomas Gottstein's Challenging Tenure

Thomas Gottstein served as CEO for two years under major losses.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

Gottstein began overseeing Credit Suisse during the start of the pandemic in 2020, inheriting a bank whose reputation was already tarnished when his predecessor, Tidjane Thiam, was ousted. Thiam left the firm after a fallout that started when a former executive revealed the bank had been following his moves. 

But Gottstein's his attempts to turnaround the bank's struggles were not successful and were met with more scandals and massive losses to the balance sheet and market valuation. His two-year tenure was challenging as the investment bank lost billions of dollars when its clients Archegos Capital Management and Greensill Capital imploded and are now both defunct.

Cleaning up the bank's image became a struggle as investors lost confidence. The stock reached a low of $7 a share on March 20, 2020, and struggled to regain its losses with brief periods of a rebound.

The bank's balance sheet shrunk by $5 billion when Archegos, a family office that managed Bill Hwang's assets, defaulted on margin calls from investment banks including Nomura Holdings, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

After those major losses, Credit Suisse promised to change its risk and compliance department and Gottstein said the bank's strategy would shift to its wealth management business that was less risky and away from its investment bank that had more liabilities.

But under Gottstein's short-lived tenure, the bank's chairman António Horta-Osório left in January 2022 after being caught using the bank's jet for personal reasons and breached pandemic quarantine rules, serving under a year.

The bank suffered other massive losses from paying large fines and court judgments. In 2022, the bank was ordered by a court in Bermuda to pay over $600 million to a Georgian billionaire after a private banker stole his funds.

A Swiss court in another case said Credit Suisse was guilty for assisting a crime ring in Bulgaria launder money that was related to cocaine trafficking.

Credit Suisse has said it is not for sale, but several potential acquirers such as U.S. banks said they were interested in purchasing divisions of  the bank, according to sources that made the statements to the Wall Street Journal.

Other Executive Departures

Employee morale at Credit Suisse is somber as bankers are unsure about the future of the bank. 

Resignations are not uncommon, even among the executive ranks.

One of Credit Suisse's senior dealmakers, Jens Welter, left to join Citigroup after 27 years with the establishment. Welter served as global co-head of banking when he left. Another executive departure is Daniel McCarthy, who served as head of global credit products.

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International

United Airlines adds new flights to faraway destinations

The airline said that it has been working hard to "find hidden gem destinations."

Published

6 hours ago

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March 8, 2024

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Since countries started opening up after the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, airlines have been seeing demand soar not just for major global cities and popular routes but also for farther-away destinations.

Numerous reports, including a recent TripAdvisor survey of trending destinations, showed that there has been a rise in U.S. traveler interest in Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam as well as growing tourism traction in off-the-beaten-path European countries such as Slovenia, Estonia and Montenegro.

Related: 'No more flying for you': Travel agency sounds alarm over risk of 'carbon passports'

As a result, airlines have been looking at their networks to include more faraway destinations as well as smaller cities that are growing increasingly popular with tourists and may not be served by their competitors.

The Philippines has been popular among tourists in recent years.

Shutterstock

United brings back more routes, says it is committed to 'finding hidden gems'

This week, United Airlines  (UAL)  announced that it will be launching a new route from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Morocco's Marrakesh. While it is only the country's fourth-largest city, Marrakesh is a particularly popular place for tourists to seek out the sights and experiences that many associate with the country — colorful souks, gardens with ornate architecture and mosques from the Moorish period.

More Travel:

"We have consistently been ahead of the curve in finding hidden gem destinations for our customers to explore and remain committed to providing the most unique slate of travel options for their adventures abroad," United's SVP of Global Network Planning Patrick Quayle, said in a press statement.

The new route will launch on Oct. 24 and take place three times a week on a Boeing 767-300ER  (BA)  plane that is equipped with 46 Polaris business class and 22 Premium Plus seats. The plane choice was a way to reach a luxury customer customer looking to start their holiday in Marrakesh in the plane.

Along with the new Morocco route, United is also launching a flight between Houston (IAH) and Colombia's Medellín on Oct. 27 as well as a route between Tokyo and Cebu in the Philippines on July 31 — the latter is known as a "fifth freedom" flight in which the airline flies to the larger hub from the mainland U.S. and then goes on to smaller Asian city popular with tourists after some travelers get off (and others get on) in Tokyo.

United's network expansion includes new 'fifth freedom' flight

In the fall of 2023, United became the first U.S. airline to fly to the Philippines with a new Manila-San Francisco flight. It has expanded its service to Asia from different U.S. cities earlier last year. Cebu has been on its radar amid growing tourist interest in the region known for marine parks, rainforests and Spanish-style architecture.

With the summer coming up, United also announced that it plans to run its current flights to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Portugal's Porto more frequently at different points of the week and reach four weekly flights between Los Angeles and Shanghai by August 29.

"This is your normal, exciting network planning team back in action," Quayle told travel website The Points Guy of the airline's plans for the new routes.

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International

Walmart launches clever answer to Target’s new membership program

The retail superstore is adding a new feature to its Walmart+ plan — and customers will be happy.

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6 hours ago

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March 8, 2024

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It's just been a few days since Target  (TGT)  launched its new Target Circle 360 paid membership plan. 

The plan offers free and fast shipping on many products to customers, initially for $49 a year and then $99 after the initial promotional signup period. It promises to be a success, since many Target customers are loyal to the brand and will go out of their way to shop at one instead of at its two larger peers, Walmart and Amazon.

Related: Walmart makes a major price cut that will delight customers

And stop us if this sounds familiar: Target will rely on its more than 2,000 stores to act as fulfillment hubs. 

This model is a proven winner; Walmart also uses its more than 4,600 stores as fulfillment and shipping locations to get orders to customers as soon as possible.

Sometimes, this means shipping goods from the nearest warehouse. But if a desired product is in-store and closer to a customer, it reduces miles on the road and delivery time. It's a kind of logistical magic that makes any efficiency lover's (or retail nerd's) heart go pitter patter. 

Walmart rolls out answer to Target's new membership tier

Walmart has certainly had more time than Target to develop and work out the kinks in Walmart+. It first launched the paid membership in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, when many shoppers sheltered at home but still required many staples they might ordinarily pick up at a Walmart, like cleaning supplies, personal-care products, pantry goods and, of course, toilet paper. 

It also undercut Amazon  (AMZN)  Prime, which costs customers $139 a year for free and fast shipping (plus several other benefits including access to its streaming service, Amazon Prime Video). 

Walmart+ costs $98 a year, which also gets you free and speedy delivery, plus access to a Paramount+ streaming subscription, fuel savings, and more. 

An employee at a Merida, Mexico, Walmart. (Photo by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images

If that's not enough to tempt you, however, Walmart+ just added a new benefit to its membership program, ostensibly to compete directly with something Target now has: ultrafast delivery. 

Target Circle 360 particularly attracts customers with free same-day delivery for select orders over $35 and as little as one-hour delivery on select items. Target executes this through its Shipt subsidiary.

We've seen this lightning-fast delivery speed only in snippets from Amazon, the king of delivery efficiency. Who better to take on Target, though, than Walmart, which is using a similar store-as-fulfillment-center model? 

"Walmart is stepping up to save our customers even more time with our latest delivery offering: Express On-Demand Early Morning Delivery," Walmart said in a statement, just a day after Target Circle 360 launched. "Starting at 6 a.m., earlier than ever before, customers can enjoy the convenience of On-Demand delivery."

Walmart  (WMT)  clearly sees consumers' desire for near-instant delivery, which obviously saves time and trips to the store. Rather than waiting a day for your order to show up, it might be on your doorstep when you wake up. 

Consumers also tend to spend more money when they shop online, and they remain stickier as paying annual members. So, to a growing number of retail giants, almost instant gratification like this seems like something worth striving for.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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Government

President Biden Delivers The “Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President”

President Biden Delivers The "Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President"

Having successfully raged, ranted, lied, and yelled through…

Published

8 hours ago

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March 8, 2024

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President Biden Delivers The "Darkest, Most Un-American Speech Given By A President"

Having successfully raged, ranted, lied, and yelled through the State of The Union, President Biden can go back to his crypt now.

Whatever 'they' gave Biden, every American man, woman, and the other should be allowed to take it - though it seems the cocktail brings out 'dark Brandon'?

Tl;dw: Biden's Speech tonight ...

  • Fund Ukraine.

  • Trump is threat to democracy and America itself.

  • Abortion is good.

  • American Economy is stronger than ever.

  • Inflation wasn't Biden's fault.

  • Illegals are Americans too.

  • Republicans are responsible for the border crisis.

  • Trump is bad.

  • Biden stands with trans-children.

  • J6 was the worst insurrection since the Civil War.

(h/t @TCDMS99)

Tucker Carlson's response sums it all up perfectly:

"that was possibly the darkest, most un-American speech given by an American president. It wasn't a speech, it was a rant..."

Carlson continued: "The true measure of a nation's greatness lies within its capacity to control borders, yet Bid refuses to do it."

"In a fair election, Joe Biden cannot win"

And concluded:

“There was not a meaningful word for the entire duration about the things that actually matter to people who live here.”

Victor Davis Hanson added some excellent color, but this was probably the best line on Biden:

"he doesn't care... he lives in an alternative reality."

*  *  *

Watch SOTU Live here...

*   *   *

Mises' Connor O'Keeffe, warns: "Be on the Lookout for These Lies in Biden's State of the Union Address." 

On Thursday evening, President Joe Biden is set to give his third State of the Union address. The political press has been buzzing with speculation over what the president will say. That speculation, however, is focused more on how Biden will perform, and which issues he will prioritize. Much of the speech is expected to be familiar.

The story Biden will tell about what he has done as president and where the country finds itself as a result will be the same dishonest story he's been telling since at least the summer.

He'll cite government statistics to say the economy is growing, unemployment is low, and inflation is down.

Something that has been frustrating Biden, his team, and his allies in the media is that the American people do not feel as economically well off as the official data says they are. Despite what the White House and establishment-friendly journalists say, the problem lies with the data, not the American people's ability to perceive their own well-being.

As I wrote back in January, the reason for the discrepancy is the lack of distinction made between private economic activity and government spending in the most frequently cited economic indicators. There is an important difference between the two:

  • Government, unlike any other entity in the economy, can simply take money and resources from others to spend on things and hire people. Whether or not the spending brings people value is irrelevant

  • It's the private sector that's responsible for producing goods and services that actually meet people's needs and wants. So, the private components of the economy have the most significant effect on people's economic well-being.

Recently, government spending and hiring has accounted for a larger than normal share of both economic activity and employment. This means the government is propping up these traditional measures, making the economy appear better than it actually is. Also, many of the jobs Biden and his allies take credit for creating will quickly go away once it becomes clear that consumers don't actually want whatever the government encouraged these companies to produce.

On top of all that, the administration is dealing with the consequences of their chosen inflation rhetoric.

Since its peak in the summer of 2022, the president's team has talked about inflation "coming back down," which can easily give the impression that it's prices that will eventually come back down.

But that's not what that phrase means. It would be more honest to say that price increases are slowing down.

Americans are finally waking up to the fact that the cost of living will not return to prepandemic levels, and they're not happy about it.

The president has made some clumsy attempts at damage control, such as a Super Bowl Sunday video attacking food companies for "shrinkflation"—selling smaller portions at the same price instead of simply raising prices.

In his speech Thursday, Biden is expected to play up his desire to crack down on the "corporate greed" he's blaming for high prices.

In the name of "bringing down costs for Americans," the administration wants to implement targeted price ceilings - something anyone who has taken even a single economics class could tell you does more harm than good. Biden would never place the blame for the dramatic price increases we've experienced during his term where it actually belongs—on all the government spending that he and President Donald Trump oversaw during the pandemic, funded by the creation of $6 trillion out of thin air - because that kind of spending is precisely what he hopes to kick back up in a second term.

If reelected, the president wants to "revive" parts of his so-called Build Back Better agenda, which he tried and failed to pass in his first year. That would bring a significant expansion of domestic spending. And Biden remains committed to the idea that Americans must be forced to continue funding the war in Ukraine. That's another topic Biden is expected to highlight in the State of the Union, likely accompanied by the lie that Ukraine spending is good for the American economy. It isn't.

It's not possible to predict all the ways President Biden will exaggerate, mislead, and outright lie in his speech on Thursday. But we can be sure of two things. The "state of the Union" is not as strong as Biden will say it is. And his policy ambitions risk making it much worse.

*  *  *

The American people will be tuning in on their smartphones, laptops, and televisions on Thursday evening to see if 'sloppy joe' 81-year-old President Joe Biden can coherently put together more than two sentences (even with a teleprompter) as he gives his third State of the Union in front of a divided Congress. 

President Biden will speak on various topics to convince voters why he shouldn't be sent to a retirement home.

According to CNN sources, here are some of the topics Biden will discuss tonight:

  • Economic issues: Biden and his team have been drafting a speech heavy on economic populism, aides said, with calls for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy – an attempt to draw a sharp contrast with Republicans and their likely presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

  • Health care expenses: Biden will also push for lowering health care costs and discuss his efforts to go after drug manufacturers to lower the cost of prescription medications — all issues his advisers believe can help buoy what have been sagging economic approval ratings.

  • Israel's war with Hamas: Also looming large over Biden's primetime address is the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which has consumed much of the president's time and attention over the past few months. The president's top national security advisers have been working around the clock to try to finalize a ceasefire-hostages release deal by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins next week.

  • An argument for reelection: Aides view Thursday's speech as a critical opportunity for the president to tout his accomplishments in office and lay out his plans for another four years in the nation's top job. Even though viewership has declined over the years, the yearly speech reliably draws tens of millions of households.

Sources provided more color on Biden's SOTU address: 

The speech is expected to be heavy on economic populism. The president will talk about raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. He'll highlight efforts to cut costs for the American people, including pushing Congress to help make prescription drugs more affordable.

Biden will talk about the need to preserve democracy and freedom, a cornerstone of his re-election bid. That includes protecting and bolstering reproductive rights, an issue Democrats believe will energize voters in November. Biden is also expected to promote his unity agenda, a key feature of each of his addresses to Congress while in office.

Biden is also expected to give remarks on border security while the invasion of illegals has become one of the most heated topics among American voters. A majority of voters are frustrated with radical progressives in the White House facilitating the illegal migrant invasion. 

It is probable that the president will attribute the failure of the Senate border bill to the Republicans, a claim many voters view as unfounded. This is because the White House has the option to issue an executive order to restore border security, yet opts not to do so

Maybe this is why? 

While Biden addresses the nation, the Biden administration will be armed with a social media team to pump propaganda to at least 100 million Americans. 

"The White House hosted about 70 creators, digital publishers, and influencers across three separate events" on Wednesday and Thursday, a White House official told CNN. 

Not a very capable social media team... 

The administration's move to ramp up social media operations comes as users on X are mostly free from government censorship with Elon Musk at the helm. This infuriates Democrats, who can no longer censor their political enemies on X. 

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers tell Axios that the president's SOTU performance will be critical as he tries to dispel voter concerns about his elderly age. The address reached as many as 27 million people in 2023. 

"We are all nervous," said one House Democrat, citing concerns about the president's "ability to speak without blowing things."

The SOTU address comes as Biden's polling data is in the dumps. 

BetOnline has created several money-making opportunities for gamblers tonight, such as betting on what word Biden mentions the most. 

As well as...

We will update you when Tucker Carlson's live feed of SOTU is published. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/08/2024 - 07:44

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