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High-flying New Zealand financier Ross Stephenson took his life because of the global credit crunch, an inquest in Britain has been told.
Mr Stephenson, 47, chief operating officer at private equity firm Olivant, faced "considerable financial loss" following the start of the global banking downturn in September last year.
He became "tense and very worried" and talked to his wife, Katrina Robinson, over dinner about killing himself because of the credit crunch, an Amersham inquest was told.
Three days later he died under a 200km/h express train.
Ms Robinson told the inquest her husband's mental state worsened as the banking system started to collapse.
"He mentioned the thought of killing himself over the credit crunch. Before the banking crisis the subject of harming himself had never been discussed and would have been totally out of character."
Recording a verdict of suicide, coroner Richard Hulett said: "We all know about the dire events which have overtaken public and private finance and made headlines on a day to day basis.
"We don't have an insight into Mr Stephenson's previous financial circumstances but his wife made it clear that all of a sudden these developments made a substantial impact on his attitude to life and financial welfare."
Mr Stephenson, who arrived in London in 1983, was paid 333,000 pounds ($907,356) last year, but was thought to have made millions more from the core Olivant business, based in Guernsey, The Daily Telegraph reported.
In June, the company secured a 2.5 per cent stake in Swiss banking giant UBS, but UBS was forced to write off billions after being exposed to the US mortgage market.
- NZPA
