Switzerland's UBS to Lay Off Majority of CS Staff... "35,000 Job Cuts"

30% Workforce Reduction Planned
60 Billion Dollar Labor Cost Savings Over the Next Several Years

UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, will lay off 35,000 employees, more than half of the entire workforce of Credit Suisse (CS), which it acquired immediately after the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) bankruptcy crisis.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

On the 27th (local time), Bloomberg News reported, citing sources, that UBS informed its employees of plans to implement layoffs in three phases starting next month, continuing through September and October. Traders in London, New York, and parts of Asia, as well as personnel involved in investment banking (IB) and support roles, are expected to be the hardest hit.

According to sources, CS has 45,000 employees. With the acquisition of CS, UBS's workforce increased to 120,000, but the planned layoffs will reduce the total staff by about 30%. Earlier this month, the UK-based investment firm Redburn predicted in a report that UBS would cut 30,000 jobs, which roughly aligns with this scale.

This move was anticipated since UBS's sudden acquisition of CS, which faced a liquidity crisis in March, at the Swiss government's suggestion. At that time, UBS announced plans to save $6 billion (approximately 7.8 trillion KRW) in labor costs over the coming years.

However, a UBS spokesperson declined to comment on the layoff plans when questioned by Bloomberg News.

Following the news of UBS's large-scale layoffs, the company's stock price rose nearly 2% in the New York stock market that day.

Bloomberg News conveyed that UBS's massive workforce reduction is intensifying the wave of layoffs across the global banking industry. Earlier, Goldman Sachs cut 3,200 employees, about 6.5% of its total workforce, in January this year and has been conducting additional layoffs of around 250 employees since last month. Morgan Stanley is also in the process of reducing about 3,000 employees, approximately 5% of its global workforce, by this month. These cost-cutting measures are aimed at addressing the downturn in corporate finance caused by rising interest rates and economic slowdown.

Bloomberg News stated, "Following Wall Street investment banks that announced thousands of layoffs, UBS of Switzerland is also cutting jobs, which will further dramatically worsen the already bleak employment situation in the global financial sector."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.