Credit Suisse investors urge chairman Rohner to back Thiam or quit

Bloomberg

The power struggle at Credit Suisse Group AG escalated as two top shareholders urged Chairman Urs Rohner to leave unless he publicly supports Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam in the wake of a spying scandal.
David Herro, who helps oversee the investments of Credit Suisse largest shareholder Harris Associates, accused Rohner of “trying to push Mr Thiam out of his role,” according to an interview with Swiss news website The Market. The bank should replace the chairman with immediate effect if he doesn’t express his confidence in the CEO, he said.
Silchester International Investors, which says it owns a 3.3% stake in the Swiss bank, echoed Herro’s comments in a press release, saying Rohner should leave before the end of his term if he doesn’t support Thiam.
The comments underscore the escalating power struggle at the bank in the wake of a spying scandal that has cast a shadow over the tenure of Thiam. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported on January 31 that Rohner was preparing a list of possible successors to Thiam and was working to replace him.
The chairman denied the story, while the bank declined to comment.
Herro has emerged as a key defender of the CEO as the scandal unfolded. He said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that there appears to be an orchestrated attempt to “pin something” onto Thiam and suggested that campaign may be motivated by competitors’ envy or the fact that Thiam is the first black CEO at the Swiss bank.
If the board does not “act accordingly,” Herro plans to look for other ways to remove Rohner as chairman, according to The Market.
Herro’s Harris Associates holds 8.42% of Credit Suisse shares, according to the letter.

The site also published an excerpt from a February 3 letter that Herro sent to the board, saying it would be a “terrible mistake” to replace Thiam and calling for members to express support for the CEO “clearly and publicly.”