Credit Suisse chair ‘truly sorry’ over downfall of 167-year-old bank

Boss apologises to investors for crisis that left bank with choice of UBS takeover or bankruptcy

The chair of Credit Suisse has told shareholders at the 167-year-old bank’s last-ever annual general meeting that he is “truly sorry” that the lender failed to stem the crisis that led to its emergency takeover by UBS last month.

Axel Lehmann told investors gathered in Zurich on Tuesday that bosses had legitimate plans to turn the bank around but had been “thwarted” by market panic over the wider health of the global banking sector, after the collapse of the US tech lender Silicon Valley Bank the previous weekend.