New York October 24 2022: Credit Suisse Group AG’s Chief Compliance Officer Rafael Lopez Lorenzo is set to leave the firm in the coming weeks after spending little more than a year in the post, according to people familiar with the decision.
Lopez Lorenzo was appointed in September 2021 to fill the gap left by the exit of Lara Warner after the twin hits from Greensill Capital and Archegos Capital Management.
The departure isn’t related to the strategic review Credit Suisse is planning to announce this week, the people said. Investment bank head Christian Meissner is also leaving the Swiss lender in coming months, amid the overhaul of the division that will likely see the unit cease to exist in its current form, Bloomberg previously reported.
A Credit Suisse representative declined to comment.
Lopez Lorenzo was part of a new crop of executives appointed in efforts to overhaul the bank’s leadership in the wake of scandals that ranged from fund collapses to corporate spying. The compliance role had been combined under former-CEO Thomas Gottstein with the risk role, and was held by Warner. The role was split again last year after management decided that dual roles had contributed to a failure in controls.
From the archives: Credit Suisse Names Compliance Chief After Twin Scandals
Prior to heading up compliance, Lopez Lorenzo was the head of group internal audit for five years. Before joining Credit Suisse in 2015, he was a managing director at JP Morgan Chase & Co. in New York.
How Credit Suisse will finance a reshaping that will win back investors’ confidence –and what that figure is — is the biggest of many unknowns hanging over the bank in the final days before its plan is unveiled Oct. 27.
Credit Suisse is looking for a buyer for all or part of its securitized products business, and various other assets, and has also taken steps to in the event of a potential capital increase in case it needs to short up its balance sheet, including working with underwriters Royal Bank of Canada and Morgan Stanley. The bank is also weighing the issuance of convertible bonds or preferred shares among options to help pay for its overhaul, Bloomberg reported last week.
