By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Iain Withers
ZURICH (Reuters) – The head of Credit Suisse’s European asset management division and two other employees who worked on the bank’s Greensill Capital supply-chain finance funds have temporarily stepped aside, according to an internal bank memo.
Credit Suisse froze $10 billion worth of funds last week that invested in securities created by the specialty finance firm. Greensill Capital filed for insolvency on Monday after losing insurance coverage for its debt repackaging business and Credit Suisse is in the process of liquidating the funds and returning cash to investors.
Michel Degen, head of asset management in Switzerland and the EMEA region, is being replaced in the interim by Filippo Rima, according to the memo sent to employees on Wednesday and seen by Reuters.
“I have asked Filippo Rima to take on the role of ad-interim Head of Asset Management Switzerland and EMEA manager,” Eric Varvel, who runs asset management at the bank, said in the memo.
Reuters could not immediately reach Degen, Rima or Varvel for comment.
In addition to Degen, the memo said that Luc Mathys and Lukas Hass were also stepping aside.
“For the time being, Michel Degen, Luc Mathys and Lukas Haas will not be performing their roles. I would like to thank Filippo and Alexandre for taking on these new responsibilities,” Varvel said in the note.
“I have also asked Alexandre Bouchardy to take on the role of ad-interim Head of Fixed Income Switzerland and EMEA,” he said in the note.
Reuters could not immediately reach Mathys or Haas for comment. According to their LinkedIn profiles, Mathys ran fixed income at the division and Haas worked in credit risk management. Haas was listed as the fund manager for some of the Greensill funds according to various fund websites.
News of the changes was first reported by Swiss publication Finews.
(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi in Zurich and Iain Withers in London; editing by Carmel Crimmins)
