Credit Suisse Proposes Outgoing Lloyds Chief Horta-Osório As Chairman

Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: CS) has proposed Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE: LYG) outgoing chief António Horta-Osório as chairman.

What Happened: Credit Suisse's board will vote for the 56-year old Horta-Osório as the successor to the current chairman Urs Rohner at its next annual general meeting on April 30. Rohner will step down after completing his 12-year term limit.

Earlier in February, Thomas Gottstein had replaced Tidjane Thiam as the chief executive officer. It was a turbulent year for Switzerland's second-largest bank as it faced severe criticism over two spying scandals involving former employees.

Why It Matters: Horta-Osório has a good track record steering Lloyds through the aftermath of the global financial crisis when the United Kingdom government unwound its £21 billion bailout stake. He is the longest-serving boss of a major bank in Britain.

According to Bloomberg, Horta-Osório has a tough job on his hands dealing with Credit Suisse's losses on loans to wealthy clients, reports on questionable deals the bank arranged for others, and lackluster trading performance.

Benzinga's take: The move by Credit Suisse comes after similar changes in the global banking industry of selecting leaders from the existing pool of bank executives.

Horta-Osório, who stepped down from Lloyds CEO role, is replaced by HSBC Holdings plc's (NYSE: HSBC) head of wealth and personal banking unit, Charlie Nunn.

On the other hand, HSBC is mulling a complete exit from U.S. retail banking operations. HSBC has promoted its European chief executive Nuno Matos as head of its wealth and personal banking division.

Price Action: CS shares closed 3.56% lower at $12.47 on Monday. LYG shares are trading higher by 6.56% to $1.95 in the pre-market session on the last check Tuesday.

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