Norwegian wealth fund Norges Bank Investment Management is set to vote against the re-election of Credit Suisse Chair Axel Lehmann and six other directors at Credit Suisse’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, the Norwegian firm announced on its website.
“Shareholders should have the right to seek changes to the board when it does not act in their best interest,” Norges stated. In addition to Lehmann, the wealth fund is also going to oppose the appointments of Credit Suisse directors Iris Bohnet, Christian Gellerstad, Shan Li, Seraina Macia, Richard Meddings and Ana Pessoa.
After finding itself in a financial crisis due to its mounting debt, the Swiss government orchestrated a state-supported takeover in an effort to rescue the 166-year-old banking institution and prevent potential disruption to the global banking sector as a result of the bank’s failure. Rival investment bank UBS ended up acquiring Credit Suisse last month for a price of $3.23 billion.