Credit Suisse Group has said it is ‘astonished’ at a decision by the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index (DJSGI) to reduce its rating because of concerns about past dealings with Nigeria.
The decision, which means the Zurich-based bank has lost its status as the best-rated financial company in the index, was taken after an ‘in-depth corporate monitoring procedure’ was declared to have shown ‘a systematic weakness of internal compliance systems in dealing with money transfers from the former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha’s entourage’.
During Abacha’s rule from 1993-1998 Nigeria was criticised heavily for corruption and violations of human rights.
However, Credit Suisse says it has changed its policy on dealings with political leaders such as Abacha, and points out that a recent Swiss Federal Banking Commission report said the bank had made ‘considerable efforts to avoid undesirable clients and has long pursued a restricted business policy with regard to politically exposed persons from critical countries’.
Credit Suisse told EP: ‘We understand that the index was not really happy with us being involved with Abacha – we were not happy ourselves. But we have addressed those problems and for several years we have taken internal measures to make sure nothing similar happens in the future.We were astonished to be downgraded.’
The bank, which is Switzerland’s second largest, has had its sustainability rating, which determines its selection in the index, cut from 1/1 to 1/2 . Despite its downgrading it remains in the DJSGI, which consists of 232 companies Dow Jones believes represent the top 10 per cent of the leading sustainability companies in 61 industries in 27 countries.
UBS Group becomes the new DJSGI leader in the banking industry section as well as in the financial market sector.
The decision on Credit Suisse was made as part of a review of ratings to mark the first year of the index’s existence. Among those judged to be leaders in their sector are BG (energy), Bristol-Myers Squibb (healthcare), Sulzer (industrial) and Thames Water (utilities).