At Credit Suisse’s last-ever annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, senior leaders apologized for failings that led to the Swiss bank’s fire sale last month to its archrival, UBS, at the behest of the Swiss government.
“I apologize that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust that had accumulated over the years, and for disappointing you,” said Axel Lehmann, Credit Suisse’s chairman.
But many of the nearly 1,750 shareholders at the meeting, held at a hockey arena in northern Zurich, said they felt cheated by the demise of the 167-year-old bank, a pillar of Switzerland’s prized banking industry that was sold for $3.2 billion, a sliver of its market value, to avoid its collapse during a global banking crisis.
“The bank is being taken away from us,” one shareholder said, accusing Credit Suisse management of failing to secure a better price from UBS. Another said, “You can almost taste the feelings of distaste and betrayal here today.”
The shareholders’ criticism was the latest blowback to Credit Suisse after its collapse. Earlier this week, Switzerland’s attorney general, Stefan Blättler, said he had begun an inquiry into whether laws were broken in the making of the UBS deal. Next week, Swiss lawmakers are set to debate the transaction in a special session of Parliament.
Mr. Lehmann and Ulrich Körner, the bank’s chief executive, struck a funereal tone in their opening remarks. They pointed out that Credit Suisse had been brought down by a history of scandals and losses that sapped confidence among shareholders and clients, leaving it vulnerable to the chaos in the banking sector that arose from the fall of Silicon Valley Bank.
Despite unveiling a sweeping turnaround plan in October and efforts to prop up Credit Suisse after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, they failed to save the firm and were forced to sell it, the men said.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t succeed in the end,” Mr. Körner said. “We ran out of time. This fills me with sorrow.”
But both executives defended the firm’s sale to UBS on March 19, for a fraction of Credit Suisse’s market value two days before, as necessary to save Switzerland’s financial system and avoid adding to global market instability.
By that point, the only choices Credit Suisse’s board faced were the deal or bankruptcy — and the latter, Mr. Lehmann said, “would have led to the worst scenario, namely a total loss for shareholders, unpredictable risks for clients, severe consequences for the economy and the global financial markets.”
But shareholder after shareholder — representatives of investment firms wearing tailored suits as well as individual investors, largely in jeans and casual clothing — who took to the podium to ask questions of Credit Suisse executives expressed shock and outrage about the firm’s fate. Many demanded to know why their holdings were razed by the deal, in which UBS will give one of its shares for every 22.48 Credit Suisse ones. When the deal was announced, that was worth about 76 Swiss cents; a month ago, Credit Suisse’s stock was valued at 2.78 Swiss francs.
But others attacked the culture of the institution — which has led to billions of dollars in fines and losses connected with scandals and missteps — for taking down the firm. (One protester walked the halls in a blazer with “Liquidate Criminal Suisse + Banksters Assets” written with tape on the back.)
“Numerous scandals of Credit Suisse over the past few years have thoroughly ruined the reputation of the institution,” said Vincent Kaufmann, the chief executive of the Ethos Foundation, a major shareholder, garnering applause after his remarks.
Several investors used the spotlight to criticize the government’s role in organizing the transaction, reflecting how unpopular the UBS deal is with the public. A recent poll found that a majority opposed the deal.
In some moments, the gathering took a turn for the surreal.
One shareholder noted to the executives that he had not brought his gun to the meeting. Another asked who was responsible for the online rumor-mongering that had bedeviled Credit Suisse since the fall — Russians, Americans or George Soros?
Another drew laughs when he produced a “gift” for Mr. Lehmann: a sack of walnuts that he had bought, he said, worth the equivalent of a single Credit Suisse share.
Mr. Lehmann responded that he would take the offering, but had his own packet of nuts to sustain him through the meeting.
At the end of the five-hour meeting, Mr. Lehmann sounded a bittersweet note — “Credit Suisse with its long and rich history is now taking a historical turn. We deeply regret this,” he said — before shareholders emptied out into the lobby to socialize over wine and desserts.