Bank governance: lessons from the fall of Credit Suisse
FINMA’s report on the collapse of Credit Suisse points to “largely deficient” governance. What lessons for banking regulation?
By Didier Gerbault
In December 2024, FINMA published its report on the collapse of Credit Suisse in March 2023. Its conclusion is unequivocal: the group’s governance was “largely deficient”.
A senior managers regime
FINMA recommends introducing a senior managers regime inspired by the UK model, which requires a statement of responsibilities clarifying each executive’s accountability.
The Basel Committee’s governance principles require the board and senior management to have sufficient knowledge of all major business lines.
An imperfect French transposition
French banking law imperfectly transposes the notion of “senior management”, substituting “direction générale”, which does not fully implement Basel Principle 4. Yet the European SREP treats governance as one of four fundamental pillars for assessing a bank’s robustness.