FirstFT: Credit Suisse to name Ulrich Körner as chief

Credit Suisse is set to appoint Ulrich Körner as its new chief executive, taking over from Thomas Gottstein, whose departure will bring an end to one of the most tumultuous periods in the Swiss bank’s 166-year history.

The appointment of Körner, who is head of the bank’s asset management division, will be announced this morning when Credit Suisse reports second-quarter results, according to four people with knowledge of the plans.

Christian Meissner, head of the lender’s investment bank, is also planning to leave, having joined over a year ago. But his exit will not be announced today, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Körner rejoined Credit Suisse in March last year, having previously worked at UBS, where he ran the asset management business.

Gottstein’s tenure was blighted by twin crises last year, the collapses of specialist finance firm Greensill Capital and family office Archegos. It was also punctured by a string of historical scandals that caused the bank’s share price to hit a three-decade low this month.

Gottstein became chief executive in February 2020 after an embarrassing corporate espionage scandal caused the abrupt departure of his predecessor, Tidjane Thiam.

Thank you for reading FirstFT Europe/Africa — Jennifer

Five more stories in the news

1. Rishi Sunak pledges to scrap VAT on household energy bills The former UK chancellor unveiled plans to temporarily scrap value added tax on energy bills if he is elected prime minister as he sought to halt the momentum behind foreign secretary Liz Truss in the Tory leadership contest.

• What’s next for levelling up? In the north-east, some towns have developed plans for economic renewal, spurred by the Conservative government’s regeneration plan. But there are fears Westminster will lose interest with a change in leadership.

2. European gas prices soar after Russia deepens supply cuts European gas prices have surged 30 per cent in two days after Russia deepened supply cuts to the continent, in Moscow’s latest attempt to weaponise energy supplies. EU ministers yesterday struck a watered-down deal to reduce gas consumption by 15 per cent over the winter.

3. European bank regulator ‘concerned’ about finding crypto staff José Manuel Campa, chair of the European Banking Authority, which is charged with overseeing Europe’s bid to regulate cryptocurrencies, said the regulator’s ability to hire specialised staff was a “major concern”, highlighting worries about authorities’ capacity to supervise digital asset markets.

4. Italy told to stick to €200bn Covid recovery plan The country’s next government cannot expect Brussels to renegotiate the fundamentals of a €200bn EU-funded recovery plan and must stick to the reform pledges Rome has made, the EU’s economic commissioner Paolo Gentiloni warned in an interview.

5. Consumer goods groups reveal soaring price rises Unilever, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s laid bare the impact of inflation yesterday, responding with price increases that will heap more pressure on households. Prices for Unilever brands rose an average of 11.2 per cent in the second quarter and will increase further, the company said yesterday.

The day ahead

UK strikes Rail workers in the RMT union will begin the latest in a series of walkouts over pay levels. Aslef, representing train drivers, counts the votes in its industrial action ballot over pay awards.

Fed interest rate decision The Federal Reserve is expected to further tighten US monetary policy with a second 75 basis-point rate increase, while at least one senior governor backs the Federal Open Market Committee to go even further. June durable goods orders are forecast to have fallen on cooling demand. (FT, WSJ)

Corporate earnings On another big day for results, companies reporting include Airbus, Boeing, Danone, Deutsche Bank, GSK, Lloyds Banking Group, Mercedes-Benz, Meta, Rio Tinto and UniCredit. See our Week Ahead newsletter for the full list.

What else we’re reading

Turkey’s new power plant contradicts net zero pledge Campaigners are lamenting the “catastrophe” of the $2.17bn Hunutlu site, built with Chinese money and fuelled by Russian coal, which they say threatens local marine life and makes a mockery of Ankara’s promises to tackle climate change.

Can Eutelsat compete in the space race? French satellite operator Eutelsat and money-losing UK start-up OneWeb are going for the moonshot: a merger that stakes their future on challenging Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Kuiper project. Do they have a chance at disrupting the once-staid space industry?

Wall Street: don’t touch that delete button! It should not be hard to get document retention right. As conversations moved from pen and paper to fax, phone and email, the legal requirements to keep important communications for litigation and regulatory purposes followed. But some businesses are still taking an outdated approach, writes Brooke Masters.

Josep Borrell: It is decision time on the Iran nuclear deal The EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy has put forth a text laying out the best possible deal that, as facilitator of the negotiations, he sees as feasible. In the Financial Times, he explains why it is the best path forward.

Mike Pence squares up to Donald Trump There is a simmering feud between the former running mates turned political foes as both eye a bid for the White House in 2024, with the ex-vice president undermining his old boss with a plea for Republicans to break with the past.

What to watch

In our round-up of the best of TV and streaming this week, Dan Einav reviews three-part series Big Oil v the World, which seeks out climate change’s culprits; the new detective drama Under the Banner of Heaven; and Australian series The Newsreader, featuring an outstanding performance from Anna Torv.