Credit Suisse names wealth executive as new sustainability chief – memo

By Simon Jessop and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi

LONDON (Reuters) – Credit Suisse has appointed wealth management executive Emma Crystal as its new chief sustainability officer, replacing Marisa Drew, who leaves after more than 18 years at the bank, a memo to staff seen by Reuters showed.

Crystal, who currently leads the International Wealth Management business for Northern & Western Europe, will start in the new role on April 1 and report directly to Chief Executive Thomas Gottstein, the memo said.

A spokesman for Credit Suisse confirmed the contents of the memo.

Switzerland’s second-largest lender created a new division focused on sustainability and research in July 2020, earmarking 300 billion Swiss francs for sustainable financing over the next decade and creating its first executive-level sustainability role, filled by Lydie Hudson.

However, following a series of major scandals, the bank in November 2021 announced a restructuring under recently appointed chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio, which did away with the sustainability division and executive-level sustainability role, reintegrating it into the business divisions instead. Hudson is due to leave the bank at the end of the first quarter.

Horta-Osorio left Credit Suisse on Monday after less than nine months in the job, following an internal probe into his personal conduct.

Drew, formerly an investment banker and then head of the bank’s sustainability-focused impact advisory and finance department, was named chief sustainability officer and head of sustainability strategy in Aug. 2020, reporting to Hudson before her departure.

Drew is leaving the bank after 18 years to pursue an opportunity outside the firm, Gottstein said in the memo.

Crystal joined Credit Suisse in 2013 and since 2020 has led international wealth management’s sustainable client solutions unit alongside her regional role.

“Emma will be responsible for partnering with the divisions, regions and functions, to deliver on our existing Sustainability commitments, including expanding our wealth management product shelf, investment banking financing offering and net zero deliverables,” Gottstein said.

Her successor within wealth management is yet to be announced.

(This story corrects spelling of name in fourth paragraph, timing of Hudson’s departure in fifth paragraph)

(Reporting by Simon Jessop and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)