Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann on Tuesday apologized to shareholders, saying he's "truly sorry" for failing to restore their trust in the bank, at an annual general meeting. 

Lehmann, who has been chairman for a year, said that up until the week in which the forced merger with rival UBS was announced, he had believed in a successful turnaround for the bank, but the rapid downward spiral of events meant "the bank could not be saved."

The hastily arranged takeover by UBS, for which Switzerland invoked emergency legislation, bypassed Credit Suisse shareholders, who would otherwise have had a say, and largely wiped out the value of their holdings.

(With input from Reuters)