Horta-Osario yet to repay £2.3m bank loan
CREDIT SUISSE lent £2.3m to its former chairman Sir Antonio HortaOsario just months before he was ousted over a breach of Covid rules.
Sir Antonio is yet to pay back the sum, which was lent on terms similar to those offered to clients with a comparable credit standing, filings show.
It brings the total he received from Credit Suisse during his eight-month tenure to £5.4m, double the pay in the final year of his previous job as chief executive of Lloyds bank.
The 59-year-old stepped down as chairman of the beleaguered Swiss lender in January last year after an investigation that found he breached quarantine regulations when visiting London to watch the Wimbledon tennis finals. Besides the loan, Sir Anto- nio was paid £3.1m for his stint as chairman of Credit Suisse.
It comes as Credit Suisse fights to reassure investors after tapping the Swiss central bank for a $54bn (£45bn) lifeline last week.
Loans taken out by board members can often be granted on more attractive terms than those offered to usual customers.
In its annual report, Credit Suisse says: “All loans to board members are… substantially on the same terms, including interest rates and collateral, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with other persons.
“The majority of loans outstanding to members of the board are mortgages or loans against securities. Such loans are made to board members on the same terms available to third-party clients.”
Sir Antonio stood down following an internal investigation by Credit Suisse’s legal team.
His departure was just one of a litany of embarrassments for the bank as it lurched from crisis to crisis over the past two years.
A decision on further action was then taken by the board’s audit committee, chaired by the British banker Richard Meddings.
It was ruled that Sir Antonio breached Britain’s Covid rules in July 2021 by flying to London to attend Wimbledon without spending 10 days in quarantine.
It later emerged that he flouted Swiss rules when he flew to Switzerland on Nov 28.
The rules required him to stay in quarantine but he flew out of the country again on Dec 1.
Credit Suisse also examined trips Sir Antonio made on the bank’s private jet, sources said. On one trip he used the bank’s private jet to visit his family in the Maldives after a business trip to Singapore.
The investigation cleared him of any breaches with the company jet.