Bank of Ireland’s Francesca McDonagh appointed COO of Credit Suisse

Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse on Monday named outgoing Bank of Ireland chief executive Francesca McDonagh as group chief operating officer from next month.

The bank previously announced Ms McDonagh as chief executive of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, but said on Monday there had been a change of plan.

That role will now be filled by Francesco De Ferrari on a full-time basis. He had been serving in the role on an interim basis since January, and remains head of the group’s wealth management division.

Ms McDonagh will take up the role of COO on September 19th where she will support Mr Koerner in the steering and strategic development of the group, including operational and cost transformation, the bank said.

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The group also named Dixit Joshi as chief financial officer from October 1st following another top management reshuffle after the appointment of Ulrich Koerner as chief executive last month.

The bank also appointed Michael Rongetti as interim chief executive officer of the asset management division, and said in a statement all three would report to Mr Koerner.

[ Bank of Ireland chief Francesca McDonagh leaves unfinished business for successor ]

[ Francesca McDonagh to step down as Bank of Ireland chief executive ]

In her five years at the helm of Bank of Ireland, Ms McDonagh oversaw a 35 per cent reduction in the group’s non-performing loans and 13 per cent decline of running costs, driven by the culling of 1,300 jobs over the past 24 months.

Ms McDonagh, a London-born Oxford University graduate who is of Irish descent, was Bank of Ireland’s first woman chief executive when she was appointed in October 2017 to succeed Richie Boucher. She previously worked in a variety of senior roles for HSBC.

Her departure is widely understood to be linked to ongoing caps on pay and bonuses at Irish financial institutions.

As news of her impending departure was announced in April, chairman Patrick Kennedy described her as “an exceptional chief executive” who has driven “with ambition and commitment, a clear strategic focus on transformation, service improvement and business growth”.

Credit Suisse, which is Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, is trying to get back on track after a string of scandals and losses. Mr Koerner is expected to scale back investment banking and cut costs.

Credit Suisse’s investment bank recorded a pretax loss of 1.12 billion Swiss francs (€1.17 billion) in the second quarter and was expected to lose money again this quarter.

Mr Joshi joins Credit Suisse from Deutsche Bank, where he was group treasurer for the last five years. He replaces David Mathers who is stepping down, as previously announced, Credit Suisse said.

It also appointed Michael Bonacker as head of transformation, leading the operating model and cost transformation work. (Additional reporting: Reuters)