Credit Suisse Group headquarters in Zurich. The bank is seeking to draw a line under one of the worst scandals in its recent. Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group headquarters in Zurich. The bank is seeking to draw a line under one of the worst scandals in its recent. Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group headquarters in Zurich. The bank is seeking to draw a line under one of the worst scandals in its recent. Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group headquarters in Zurich. The bank is seeking to draw a line under one of the worst scandals in its recent. Bloomberg

Credit Suisse chief operating officer steps down over spying scandal


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Credit Suisse Group chief operating officer Pierre-Olivier Bouee resigned in effort to draw a line under a spying scandal that has rocked Switzerland’s financial circles and which the lender said caused severe reputational damage to the bank.

Mr Bouee, a long-time associate of chief executive Tidjane Thiam, assumed responsibility for the surveillance of former Credit Suisse executive Iqbal Khan, along with the bank’s head of security. The board of directors said that the decision to shadow Mr Khan was “wrong and disproportionate” and taken without Mr Thiam’s knowledge. The investigation found no evidence that Mr Khan was trying to poach clients, according to a Tuesday statement.

“The COO said that he alone, in order to protect the interests of the bank, decided to initiate the observation of Iqbal Khan," the bank said. The investigation “didn’t identify any indication that the CEO had approved the observation”.

The scandal took on another dimension on Monday evening after it emerged that a Credit Suisse contractor who hired private detectives on behalf of the bank to follow Mr Khan killed himself. Swiss financial blog Inside Paradeplatz first reported the man’s death, identifying him only as T. The man took his own life last Tuesday, according to Thomas Fingerhurth, a lawyer for private investigative firm Investigo.

Chairman Urs Rohner is trying to contain a drama that started in the local tabloids a week ago, when it emerged that the bank hired a private investigation firm to shadow its former employee because of fears he would poach former colleagues after deciding to move to UBS. The surveillance resulted in a confrontation in downtown Zurich between Mr Khan and investigators, and has since engulfed chief executive Mr Thiam, who was said to have had a personal dispute with Mr Khan.

The resignation removes a longtime associate of Mr Thiam and close ally in Credit Suisse whose career has closely followed that of his own. They both moved to Prudential in 2008 from Aviva, where they worked together for about four years. Mr Bouee started his career in the French Treasury before he moved to McKinsey & Co in 2000, where Mr Thiam also worked.

He was named his chief of staff at Credit Suisse in 2015 and later became chief operating officer, responsible for global operations, IT and security. As such, any official surveillance fell under his purview. Without citing sources, Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger had reported earlier that the surveillance was ordered by Mr Bouée and his global head of security Remo Boccali. The bank said today it also accepted the resignation with immediate effect of the head of global security services.

Credit Suisse said James B. Walker, who currently holds senior roles in the bank’s finance organisation, will be appointed as chief operating officer and member of the executive board with immediate effect.

While it’s common for banks to try to prevent staff who leave from poaching colleagues, the spying case has shaken Switzerland’s reputation for quiet professionalism and raised questions about who ordered the surveillance and who knew about it.

With the Mr Bouée resignation, Mr Thiam is being spared responsibility for the drama after coming under criticism when it emerged that he and Mr Khan had a falling out at a party in Mr Thiam’s house in January. The two men are neighbors in the upscale neighborhood of Herrliberg outside Zurich, and Mr Khan had enjoyed a rapid rise through the ranks of Credit Suisse, promoted by Mr Thiam to lead a key unit.

But their relations soured this year and their rift had been an open secret inside Credit Suisse for months. In February, Mr Khan was being passed over in a corporate reorganisation that saw two colleagues elevated. By July, he had decided to leave the bank and the following month agreed to join UBS.

One of the bank’s top investors defended Mr Thiam against criticism, including from former Credit Suisse chief executive Oswald Gruebel, warning that his ouster would hurt the bank.

“It would be damaging to CS and its stakeholders to lose any member of senior management over this issue,” David Herro, deputy chairman of Chicago-based Harris Associates, said before the decision.

MATCH INFO

Manchester United 1 (Fernandes pen 2') Tottenham Hotspur 6 (Ndombele 4', Son 7' & 37' Kane (30' & pen 79, Aurier 51')

Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)

UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

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Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

Results

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10pm Handicap Dh160,000 1,600m Winner Sea Skimmer, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
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  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

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Rating: 4/5

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Top financial tips for graduates

Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:

1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.

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3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.

4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.

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2.0

Director: S Shankar

Producer: Lyca Productions; presented by Dharma Films

Cast: Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Salah in numbers

€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of 39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.

13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.

57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.

7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.

3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.

40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.

30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.

8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

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MATCH SCHEDULE

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Tuesday, April 24 (10.45pm)

Liverpool v Roma

Wednesday, April 25
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid (10.45pm)

Europa League semi-final, first leg
Thursday, April 26

Arsenal v Atletico Madrid (11.05pm)
Marseille v Salzburg (11.05pm)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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EA Sports FC 25
RESULT

West Brom 2 Liverpool 2
West Brom: Livermore (79'), Rondón (88' ) 
Liverpool: Ings (4'), Salah (72') 

Richard Jewell

Director: Clint Eastwood

Stars: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Brandon Stanley

Two-and-a-half out of five stars 

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.