Zurich (dpa) - Credit Suisse and Swiss Re, both hit hard by the financial crisis, announced changes at the top of the companies Monday morning.

Peter Forstmoser, the chairman of Swiss Re, the re-insurer, announced in a statement that he would resign from the board and be replaced by Walter B. Kielholz, the current chairman of Credit Suisse, who would stay at the bank as a member of the board.

Hans-Ulrich Doerig, currently the vice-chairman of Credit Suisse was being proposed as the new chairman of Switzerland's second largest bank.

The bank, which suffered a record loss last year of 8.2 billion francs (7.07 billion dollars) but said it was off to a good start in 2009, also announced other new board members.

UBS, the Swiss banking giant, which has suffered the most in Europe from writedowns due to the credit crunch and investment in toxic assets in the United States, has already announced the replacement of its chief executive officer and chairman in recent weeks.

It remains entangled in a complicated tax fraud investigation in the US, which has become a national Swiss issue, with some fearing for the future of the Alpine nation's banking secrecy laws.

Swiss Re announced net losses in 2008 of 864 million francs, sought a large capital injection from investor Warren Buffet and replaced its CEO last month with Stefan Lippe, in an attempt to shore up confidence in the company. (dpa)