The American chief of the Swiss banking group is stepping down in June and a replacement has been named.

Brady Dougan is stepping down as the chief executive of Credit Suisse at the end of June this year after eight years in the post and will be replaced by Tidjane Thiam, who is currently CEO of Prudential, the London-based financial services group.

The outgoing CEO, one of the longest-serving such business chiefs, will be leaving Switzerland’s second-largest bank at what has been a period of upheaval for the Zurich-listed firm. It has been restructuring to maintain a competitive edge, spinning off certain businesses – such as the sale more than a year ago of its German private bank to ABN AMRO – and reducing risk exposure at its investment banking arm. In the fourth quarter of 2013 the bank created non-strategic units within its private banking and wealth management and investment banking divisions and separated non-strategic items in the corporate centre.

Dougan is an American, a fact worth noting at a time when Swiss banks have been under siege from US authorities, among others, for their bank secrecy laws. Along with a host of other Swiss banks, Credit Suisse has seen Switzerland's decades-old bank secrecy system come in for attack and had to radically change their business models. Dougan's eight-year tenure at the helm of such a major bank - which has operations worldwide - is in some ways relatively long and his time precedes the global financial crisis.

Dougan joined Credit Suisse First Boston in 1990, where he headed the equities business between 1996 and 2001, prior to his appointment as global head of the securities business in 2001. In 2003, he was appointed a member of the executive board of Credit Suisse Group, and from 2004 until 2005 he was chief executive of Credit Suisse First Boston. After the merger of Credit Suisse First Boston with Credit Suisse in May 2005, he became CEO of the investment banking division, and took on his latest role in 2007.

“We are extremely grateful to Brady Dougan for his exceptional commitment, unparalleled personal contribution and leadership to Credit Suisse over many years. Brady has significantly and successfully shaped our company; he has kept our bank on track in recent years despite a complex environment and considerable headwinds in the global financial services industry. Brady and his management team have mastered even the most difficult challenges together,” Urs Rohner, chairman of Credit Suisse, said.

Thiam is currently group CEO of Prudential and has held the post since 2009; from 2002 to 2008, he had senior roles at Aviva, before moving to Prudential as a chief financial officer. He was born in Côte d’Ivoire, educated in France and has worked at McKinsey & Company in Paris and New York.