Credit Suisse Launches Probe Into Its Surveillance of Top Executive Inquiry follows reports that the bank put former wealth-management head Iqbal Khan, who is set to join UBS, under surveillance Iqbal Khan, who ran Credit Suisse’s wealth-management arm, left the bank abruptly in July. He was hired by crosstown rival UBS. Photo: arnd wiegmann/Reuters By Margot Patrick and Jenny Strasburg Sept. 23, 2019 2:22 pm ET Credit Suisse Group AG has launched an investigation into its surveillance of a departing top executive who is joining crosstown rival UBS Group AG UBS -0.48% , after the executive filed a report with Zurich police. Credit Suisse said Monday in a memo to employees that its board launched a “detailed inquiry” following Swiss and German media reports that the bank put former wealth-management head Iqbal Khan under surveillance, leading to a confrontation with three unidentified men last week outside a restaurant in Zurich. Mr. Khan left Credit Suisse abruptly in July. In August, he was named head of wealth management at UBS, starting next week. A spokesman for the Zurich public prosecutor’s office said Monday that prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into possible assault and threat based on a complaint made by Mr. Khan. The spokesman said the investigation led to “temporary arrests” and declined to provide further details, citing a continuing investigation. Credit Suisse had Mr. Khan under surveillance based on suspicions he was trying to poach someone from the bank for UBS, according to a person familiar with the decision. An outside spokesman for Mr. Khan, who is still a Credit Suisse employee, said any such suggestion is “totally absurd.” Credit Suisse on Monday said representatives carrying out the investigation will report directly to its chairman, Urs Rohner. “As soon as the investigation is completed, the board of directors will inform of its findings,” the bank said. Mr. Khan left Credit Suisse after having been considered by some insiders and investors a potential successor to Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam. That relationship soured as Mr. Khan sought more responsibility, according to people close to Credit Suisse. In August, UBS said it had hired Mr. Khan to oversee its wealth-management arm. He is due to start at UBS on Oct. 1. The job was part of a broad reshuffling that lined up several UBS executives and Mr. Khan as potential internal CEO successors. According to Swiss and German media accounts, led by an initial report by Swiss finance blog InsideParadePlatz.ch, Mr. Khan was followed last week by car and on foot while with his wife and child. Mr. Khan reported the alleged incident to Zurich police, according to reports and the public prosecutor’s office. Write to Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com and Jenny Strasburg at jenny.strasburg@wsj.com https://www.wsj.com/articles/credit...shareToken=st66a78b2ecd21455086613c1d1437a327
Fresh Credit Suisse Spying Report Puts Surveillance Tactics in Focus Swiss bank probes new revelation of alleged spying on a top executive Swiss media reported that former Credit Suisse HR chief Peter Goerke was survilled by the company. Photo: Credit Suisse By Margot Patrick and Jenny Strasburg Dec. 18, 2019 1:26 pm ET Credit Suisse Group AG CS -0.40% is probing a third episode of alleged spying on a top executive, highlighting the ethical and reputational pitfalls companies encounter when they physically monitor employees. The Swiss bank said it is conducting a review after a Swiss newspaper published a photo allegedly showing a top bank executive under surveillance earlier this year, a spokesman said. The latest revelation follows a September clash on the streets of Zurich between another top Credit Suisse executive and a detective the bank hired to tail him. Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Colleen Graham, a former Credit Suisse executive who headed a joint venture for the bank, said she was trailed to a job interview by an investigator during an alleged three-day surveillance in July 2017. Credit Suisse said Ms. Graham’s claim was baseless. The Swiss media report, in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper this week, said Peter Goerke, a longtime lieutenant of Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam, was followed for three days in February, citing documents and photos. Shortly after the alleged spying, Credit Suisse removed Mr. Goerke from the bank’s executive board. He gave up his job as head of human resources and became a senior adviser on bank projects. Mr. Goerke couldn’t be reached for comment. Credit Suisse share priceSource: FactSet.Swiss francs 2015’17’197.510.012.515.017.520.022.525.027.530.0 The alleged incidents involving Credit Suisse cast another shadow over Switzerland’s second-largest lender by assets. Revenue at its investment bank plunged this year as corporate deals failed to materialize, forcing the bank to cut its financial targets last week. Credit Suisse’s share price is down by more than half since Mr. Thiam started as CEO in July 2015. In September, former wealth management head Iqbal Khan’s confrontation with a bank-hired detective sparked weeks of Swiss tabloid headlines and global news reports. The bank hired a law firm, Homburger AG, to conduct a review into Mr. Khan’s surveillance. The law firm found it was ordered by Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Olivier Bouée, another close lieutenant of Mr. Thiam. Mr. Bouée immediately resigned and hasn’t commented on the law firm’s findings. The Homburger partner who conducted the review referred a Wednesday request for comment to Credit Suisse. In a memo to staff after the incident involving Mr. Khan, Mr. Thiam said the surveillance was “strictly an isolated incident.” Credit Suisse said that a previous review of surveillance on another executive hadn’t identified evidence of Mr. Goerke being shadowed. The line between company security and employee privacy is often blurry. Physical surveillance is typically a last resort for companies including banks, even when they suspect employees of serious ethical or legal breaches such as fraud, bribery or other behavior that violates company rules, experts say. One reason: Covert surveillance can backfire if it fails to gather the desired evidence and is discovered by the target and the public, as has happened at Credit Suisse. “Surveillance might just produce circumstantial evidence,” said Andrew Watson, a London employment lawyer who represents both companies and employees and spoke about general practices, not Credit Suisse specifically. If spying is bungled, Mr. Watson said, “You look like you’re suspicious of your employees. That has repercussions, in ways that are really hard to quantify, about how people feel about going to work.” Steps taken to spy on employees should be “justified and proportionate” to any suspected wrongdoing, said Tristan Prince of NetWatch Global Ltd., a U.K. corporate-intelligence firm that does online investigations and digital surveillance for corporate clients. “You usually wouldn’t start by putting [physical] surveillance on employees right away,” Mr. Prince said. Usually, “you have to have some kind of indication there’s fraud, collusion, money laundering” or a similar violation. Ultimately, experts said, so much information is online and available to banks—including about employees—that technology provides easier, lower-risk investigative tools. More broadly, banks are already heavily security-focused and more sophisticated than ever about how they gather data on customers, competitors and their own employees, experts say. “Every company is monitoring employees in some fashion. It would be naive to think otherwise,” said Brian Vecci of software and analytics company Varonis Systems Inc., which helps banks and other companies protect data. “The question is to what extent, and what’s appropriate.” “I use my company phone for work, but my company doesn’t have access to my personal email and texting, Mr. Vecci said. “I would probably have a problem with that.” Still, several people who have seen bank employee surveillance in action said a lot of people would be surprised how much of their behavior can be monitored. Banks have access to executives’ personal financial accounts if they’re held at their employer, for example. One of the people said they have seen a bank look into employees’ personal accounts to investigate suspicions of wrongdoing such as bribery or an inappropriate relationship. Write to Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com and Jenny Strasburg at jenny.strasburg@wsj.com https://www.wsj.com/articles/fresh-...uts-surveillance-tactics-in-focus-11576693583
Credit Suisse Tidjane Thiam has quit as CEO of Credit Suisse, after former COO Pierre-Olivier Bouée was implicated in two spying operations—one involving a former wealth management chief who had left for rival UBS, and one involving Credit Suisse's former HR chief. Thiam, who is being replaced next week by Thomas Gottstein: "I had no knowledge of the observation of two former colleagues. It undoubtedly disturbed Credit Suisse and caused anxiety and hurt. I regret that this happened and it should never have taken place." CNN