£4 million-a-year bank chief quits after breaking Covid rules with trips to Wimbledon

Ladies Day At Glorious Goodwood
Resignation: António Horta-Osório with wife Ana
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A £4 million-a-year investment banking chief has quit his job after he was found to have twice flouted Covid rules, including making visits to the Wimbledon tennis tournament when he should have been in quarantine.

António Horta-Osório resigned today as chairman of global financial giant Credit Suisse with immediate effect following an internal investigation.

The Portuguese-born former chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group only joined Credit Suisse last April to restore its reputation after a series of scandals.

But it has emerged that Mr Horta-Osório, 57, broke both UK and Swiss quarantine rules last year. The inquiry found that he visited Wimbledon on July 10 and 11 last year on women’s and men’s finals days.

He had flown into London from Switzerland at a time when that country’s status on the amber list meant that he should have quarantined for 10 days on arrival. Breaching quarantine rules is a criminal offence with fines starting at £1,000 and rising to £10,000.

Mr Horta-Osório also breached Covid rules in Switzerland, having flown out of the country within three days of arriving on November 28, despite being required to quarantine for 10 days. In a statement issued by the bank, he said: “I regret that a number of my personal actions have led to difficulties for the bank and compromised my ability to represent the bank internally and externally.

“I therefore believe that my resignation is in the interest of the bank and its stakeholders at this crucial time.”

Mr Horta-Osório, who was awarded an honorary knighthood by the Queen last June for his work at Lloyds, has been replaced by board member Axel Lehmann. He was recruited by Credit Suisse following a series of scandals at the bank.

In February 2020, former chief executive Tidjane Thiam resigned after it was revealed the bank had spied on senior employees. Mr Thiam denied knowledge of the spying operations.

Credit Suisse has also been hit with huge losses from its involvement with failed financial firm Greensill Capital and collapsed US hedge fund Archegos.

Mr Horta-Osório spent almost a decade at Lloyds where he was responsible for returning the lender to profit and private ownership after it was bailed out during the financial crisis.

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