Paul Calello, the chairman of the investment bank at Credit Suisse Group who is credited with helping steer the Swiss bank through the global financial crisis, has died, according to a family member and Credit Suisse. He was 49 years old.
Calello had been CEO of Credit Suisse's investment bank for three years. He stepped aside temporarily last year after he began treatment for cancer. Credit Suisse this summer appointed Eric Varvel to permanently take over as head of the firm's investment banking and asset management divisions. Calello became chairman. He also was a member of Credit Suisse's executive board. He later wrote and spoke about the importance of devising a system that could better withstand the collapse of a big financial institution.
Calello won plaudits for bolstering Credit Suisse's capital and reducing its portfolio of risky securities. In 2008, during the height of investor panic about the health of banks, Calello started stiff cost-cutting. He also instituted a novel compensation plan in which bankers and traders were to be paid bonuses in distressed assets the bank wanted to shed. Assets in the program rebounded in value during the program's first year.
He joined Credit Suisse in 1990 as a founding member of the Credit Suisse First Boston financial derivatives unit.
