ZURICH- Credit Suisse proposed on Monday Richard Meddings, a British banker with long experience of crisis management, for election to its board in its first non-executive nomination since the Swiss bank was rocked by a spying scandal.
Two incidents of spying on some of Credit Suisse's top executives have drawn scrutiny of both the executive and non-executive management of Switzerland's second-biggest bank.
Meddings, chairman of Britain's TSB Bank, has wide experience helping lenders navigate challenging times, including previously at Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered .
His appointment will need to be approved by shareholders at an annual general meeting on April 30.
Switzerland's market supervisor FINMA is examining Credit Suisse's oversight of Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam and his top lieutenants, as well as possible control failures at the bank's board of directors.
Credit Suisse Chairman Urs Rohner, in a statement announcing Meddings' nomination, highlighted the Briton's record in the financial industry and managing risk.
"Through his wealth of knowledge and experience in the financial industry and his expertise in audit and risk management, Richard will make a valuable contribution as a new member of our board of directors," Rohner said.
As chairman of Britain's TSB Bank, Meddings assumed executive responsibility after the lender's chief executive was forced out following a botched migration of customer data which locked out nearly 2 million customers and wiped millions off parent Sabadell's 2018 profits.
Meddings also served on the board of Deutsche Bank when it paid more than $7 billion to settle U.S. allegations of mis-selling mortgage-backed securities.
He was finance director of Standard Chartered when it faced pressure from U.S. authorities over $250 billion worth of transactions tied to Iran.
(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Silke Koltrowitz, editing by John Revill and Susan Fenton) ((silke.koltrowitz@thomsonreuters.com; +41 58 306 7454; Reuters Messaging: silke.koltrowitz.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
