Credit Suisse Names Tidjane Thiam New CEO; Stock Surges

(RTTNews) - Confirming media speculation, Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) Tuesday announced the appointment of Tidjane Thiam as its chief executive officer, succeeding Brady Dougan, who would step down at the end of June after eight years in that position. The stock climbed close to 7 percent in early trade.

Thiam is currently Group Chief Executive of Prudential Plc. (PRU.L, PUK), a London-based financial services group with operations in the U.S., Asia, Europe and Latin America.

The lender said that at the end of a thorough evaluation process, which included internal as well as external candidates, the Board of Directors appointed him as the new CEO of the group.

Born in Côte d'Ivoire, Thiam was raised and educated in France. After several years at McKinsey & Company in Paris and New York, he worked for the government of Côte d'Ivoire, where his final post was as Minister of Planning and Development, before returning to McKinsey & Co. in Paris as a partner.

From 2002 until 2008, Thiam had leading roles at Aviva insurance company, prior to joining Prudential as its CFO. In 2009, he became Prudential's CEO.

Dougan, an American, joined Credit Suisse First Boston about 25 years ago, and worked his way up to head the investment-banking division of Credit Suisse, and became CEO in 2007. He is currently one of the longest serving CEOs of any major global bank. He will continue to serve as CEO through the end of June to ensure a flawless transition to Tidjane Thiam.

At times, there was discontent about having an outsider to head the lender, with shareholders at annual meetings in Switzerland occasionally criticizing him for addressing them in a foreign language.

Credit Suisse said today that Thiam speaks English, French, and German, and is a dual citizen of France and Côte d'Ivoire.

The stock climbed 6.9 percent in early morning trade to 24.81 Swiss francs.