Lachappelle elected new Raiffeisen bank chairman
Swiss bank Raiffeisen has formally approved the appointment of Guy Lachappelle as the new chairman as well as four new board directors at a delegates’ assembly.
A clear majority of delegates voted on Saturday for LachappelleExternal link, former chief executive of Basler Kantonalbank, who has been brought in to turn around the scandal-hit banking cooperative – Switzerland’s third biggest bank – and implement a series of governance reforms.
His predecessor, Johannes Rüegg-Stürm, resigned in March as Zurich prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into fraud allegations against former Chief Executive Officer Pierin Vincenz.
Financial market supervisor FINMA said in June it had found “serious shortcomings” at Raiffeisen in a probe related to the fraud allegations against Vincenz. It said that the bank failed to adequately supervise Vincenz.
+ Read more about FINMA’s findings here
Prosecutors are investigating Vincenz, who denies wrongdoing but has been forced to resign, on suspicion of breach of trust linked to cashless payments business Aduno as well as private equity firm Investnet.
The 57-year-old new chairman must also find another CEO after Vincenz’s replacement Patrik Gisel announced his resignation on Friday evening. This follows news reports of his romantic relationship with a French-Swiss businesswoman who recently sat on Raiffeisen’s board.
On Saturday, delegates voted in new board directors including Karin Valenzano Rossi, Andrej Golob, Thomas Mueller and Beat Schwab.
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