Finance chief Pierre Wauthier's suicide note implicates ex-chairman Josef Ackermann, says Zurich Insurance Mr Wauthier, 53, who was married with two children, was found dead on Monday at his home in a lakefront suburb of Zug outside Zurich. On Tuesday police said he appeared to have taken his own life. His widow, Fabienne Wauthier, is said to have accused Zurich's management of driving her husband "into a corner" and that Mr Ackermann's "tough management style" had put Mr Wauthier under insufferable pressure. Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported that, in his suicide note, Wauthier made allegations against Mr Ackermann and said he could not handle his criticism. Mr de Swaan said Mr Wauthier's death had cast a "shadow" over the company but stressed: "From my own personal perspective I am not aware of any behaviour that would be inappropriate in a board setting. The Zurich management team has the board's full support and we fully recognise that the recent developments have been extremely unsettling and our focus is on ensuring the continued stability of the company. He added: "The board is well aware of the need to strengthen the management team and I consider this to be our top priority." Mr Ackermann, 65, took over as chairman of Zurich in March last year after a decade at the helm of Deutsche Bank, steering Germany's biggest lender through the financial crisis. He has a reputation for being a hard task master, with reports suggesting he had come in to "shake up" Zurich. One insider was quoted, saying: "Ackermann did not became chairman at Zurich in order not to change anything." In his statement on Thursday, he appeared to deny that he had placed Mr Wauthier under intolerable pressure, saying that, whatever allegations the family was making, they were "unfounded." Results have disappointed, however, with the most recent quarter showing an 18pc drop in profits, while there has been a high turnover of senior staff. Zurich's chief executive Martin Senn insisted this morning that there were no financial issues or irregularities at the company that could have triggered the death of Mr Wauthier, who he considered a "terrific colleague." "There is no link between this news and Zurich's business performance or results," Mr Senn told analysts. "The results were somewhat mixed but we continue to be profitable," he said, adding: "We have a strong and resilient balance sheet." Mr Wauthier is the second top executive of a Swiss company to have committed suicide in the past five weeks, following the death of Swisscom's 49-year-old chief executive Carsten Schloter.