Former Head of Security at Credit Suisse in focus

The former head of the global security service at Credit Suisse (SIX: CSGN) is one of three people targeted in a new investigation announced last week by the Swiss financial market regulator FINMA in connection with an espionage affair at the bank, a lawyer told Reuters on Sunday.

The Zurich-based lawyer Andreas Josephsohn confirmed that his client is one of the three people under investigation, but on the condition that his client is not named.

The Swiss newspaper "NZZ am Sonntag" first reported that the former head of the security services is in the sights of the investigation.

"In principle, we do not comment on specific enforcement matters of FINMA or speculation about third parties, former or current employees," said a spokesman for Credit Suisse.

As FINMA announced last Tuesday, in its now closed proceedings against the bank, it identified "serious organizational deficiencies" in relation to the way in which the bank managed the monitoring of some of its top executives and former employees between 2016 and 2019 and checked.

It opened an investigation into the knowledge and behavior of three unnamed persons in order to determine their responsibility in connection with the violations of supervisory law found by FINMA at the Swiss bank.

In October 2019, the then Chief Operating Officer of the bank, Pierre-Olivier Bouee, and the head of global security services resigned because of a snooping affair that ultimately also triggered the resignation of former Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam.