$90 mln fine for Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse was fined $90 million by SEC, admitting wrongdoing after an investigation by U.S. regulators found the bank misrepresented how it determined a performance metric in its wealth management business to investors.
Former Credit Suisse executive Rolf Bogli, who didn’t admit or deny the findings, also agreed to settle and pay US$80,000 for his role in the violations.

According to the SEC, Credit Suisse misrepresented assets in 2011 and 2012 in order to meet certain targets set by senior management. It was individually assessing assets based on each client’s intentions and objectives. However, the firm at times instead took an undisclosed results-driven approach to determining NNA in order to meet certain targets established by senior management. Employees were under pressure by some bank managers to do this against their will. NNA, net new assets, is a metric valued by investors in financial institutions to measure success in attracting new business. 

"Credit Suisse conveyed to the investing community that it followed a structured process for recognizing net new assets when, in fact, the process was reverse-engineered to meet targets," said Andrew Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s enforcement arm.

“Rolf Bögli has reached a settlement with the SEC and he looks forward to moving on,” Mr. Bögli’s lawyer, Kenneth Breen, said in a statement.
In a statement Credit Suisse said "It is important to note that there are no allegations of intentional misconduct or that (new net asset) numbers were incorrectly reported. Credit Suisse clients were not harmed".