Tidjane Thiam lands GLOBAL AFRICANS TOP 5th Spot- GA A-LISTERS

At first glance, Tidjane Thiem can be easily mistaken for a pro-basketball superstar (toweling at over 6’6’’ in height), or an unassuming corrupt African politician or prime minister whose country lays in economic ruin and poverty-why he/she live in opulent. With his once multimillion dollar villa located in Zurich not to far the Swiss Alps, thousand-dollar bespoke dark business suit, thick spectacles and serious banker look as he privately jets between London, New York and Tokyo signing billion-dollar investment deals, no conscience minded self-respective well-read person would mistake Tidjane for a mere pro-athlete or much less an inapt African government minister. Although, he reluctantly briefly served as one in Côte d'Ivoire many years ago, and long before his global corporate meteoritic rise.

Ex-CS boss sells multimillion dollar villa in Zurich

His Beginning

Born into a prominent political family in the Ivory Coast, he holds dual Ivorian and French citizenship. He studied advanced mathematics and physics in France before joining the management consultants McKinsey & Company in 1986, where he worked until 1994. From 1994 to 1999 he worked in the Ivory Coast first as chief executive of the National Bureau for Technical Studies (BNETD). Following the 1999 Ivorian coup d'état, he resumed a private-sector career and rejoined McKinsey in Paris from 2000 to 2002, then worked as a senior executive for Aviva before being recruited by Prudential.

His Rise

Before assuming the Chief Executive Officer at Credit Suisse Group in 2015, Thiam was offered a partnership by McKinsey in Paris, becoming one of the leaders of the company's financial institutions practice. In 2002 he joined Aviva, initially as group strategy and development director, then as managing director of Aviva International, chief executive of Aviva Europe and an executive director, sitting on the plc board. In January 2007, after Richard Harvey announced he would step down as chief executive of Aviva, Thiam was tipped as a possible future head of the group. Thiam left Aviva in September 2007 to become chief financial officer of Prudential plc. In March 2009, Thiam was named chief executive, effective from October, after Mark Tucker chose to step down. The appointment made him the first African to lead a FTSE 100 listed company.

An hour after his appointment was announced, the company stock increased by 7.5%. During his first two years, he led the bank through a restructuring process cutting costs and jobs. His compensation was US$9.9 million in 2016 and $10.2 million in 2017, according to Bloomberg news. His pay was originally scheduled to be $11.2 million in 2017, however, it was reduced after shareholder backlash. From 2016 to 2019, Under Thiam, Credit Suisse expanded their wealth management business and generated net new assets of CHF121bn (€113.7bn), and their pre-tax profit from wealth management grew double-digit (+15%) for four years in a row, from €2.5bn in 2015 to €4.4bn in 2019. In March 2018, Thiam detailed a new profitability track for the company by stating: "We've been cleaning up a lot of undesirable trades that we should not have done... There's no way to clean up the past, given the legacy we have, without generating losses. We have profitable operations of the company."

His Downfall

On February 7, 2020, Tidjane Thiam resigned amid a power struggle that followed the spying scandal. In a statement, Thiam said: "I had no knowledge of the observation of two former colleagues. It undoubtedly disturbed Credit Suisse and caused anxiety and hurt. I regret that this happened and it should never have taken place," Thiam said in the statement. The Credit Suisse's Board accepted Thiam's resignation through a unanimous vote.

His Reemergence

Mr. Thiam has accumulated a wealth of experience in his field of work making the demand for his service very high across the world. As chief executive officer of Swiss bank Credit Suisse from March 2015 to February 2020; records have it that, during his first two years of working with Credit Suisse. He took the bank from losses amounting to 2.3 billion euros to an annual pre-tax profit of 4.4 billion euros, giving the bank the best growth in a decade.

His Personal Life

Tidjane was married to Annette Anthony Thiam, an African American lawyer who used to work for Joe Biden, and they have two sons. Tidjane's eldest son Bilal Thiam died of cancer in May 2020 at the age of 24. Tidjane and Annette separated in 2015 and divorced in 2016. He holds dual citizenship of both the Ivory Coast and France, and speaks English, French, and German fluently.

His Accolades

His service as a banker won him several distinguished awards; In July 2018, business and finance magazine Euromoney named him Banker of the Year with reference to how he transformed Credit Suisse; he was equally ranked number one in both 2010 and 2011 by the annual publication the Powerlist, which ranks the 100 most influential Africans in the UK.

Mr. Thiam has already won many other awards and is also part of many prominent development-oriented associations. According to reports, since his resignation from Credit Suisse, top multinational organizations and countries have sought his service, a few of which he considered but decided finally to work for his continent – Rwanda. And, this is why Global Africans has named Tidjane Thiam at a Top 10 Global African A-Listers at #5.