Credit Suisse chairman apologises for bank's demise in last shareholders' meeting

Chairman of Credit Suisse apologised to shareholders in their final meeting on Tuesday (April 4). Axel Lehmann, the chairman faced shareholder anger over demise of the bank that was among symbols of Switzerland.

The hastily arranged takeover by Zurich-based UBS, for which Switzerland invoked emergency legislation, bypassed Credit Suisse shareholders, who would otherwise have had a say, and all but wiped them out.

Credit Suisse was 167-year-old bank founded by Alfred Escher, a Swiss magnate who was affectionately nicknamed King Alfred the First. Escher helped build country's railways and then the bank.

Protesters gathered outside the concert venue where the meeting took place, with some erecting a capsized boat to depict the bank's demise.

Inside, chairman Axel Lehmann issued an apology, saying he had run out of time to turn the bank around, despite his belief "until the beginning of the fateful week" that it could survive.

After years of scandal and losses, Credit Suisse came to the brink of collapse before UBS rode to the rescue with a merger engineered and bankrolled by the Swiss authorities.

"I can understand the bitterness, the anger and the shock of all those who are disappointed, overwhelmed and affected by the developments," Lehmann said at the Hallenstadion, Zurich's biggest indoor arena.

With the bank's share price in free-fall and fearing an imminent collapse that could have triggered an international banking crisis, the Swiss government, the central bank and the financial regulators strongarmed UBS into taking over Credit Suisse on March 19.

(With inputs from agencies)

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