The much-anticipated job cuts UBS will make at Credit Suisse could come this week. Cuts to the investment bank loom large in London. Generous severance packages are said to be in the offing.
After UBS took over Credit Suisse in March on the orders of the government, its workforce grew to about 120,000. That number is set to shrink by around 30 percent, corresponding to 35,000 jobs in three rounds of planned cuts. The first round could come this week, according to a report from «efinancialcareers.com».
As finews.com reported, the second and third rounds of cuts could come in September and October as part of UBS's goal of saving $6 billion in personnel costs in coming years.
Sources told efinancialcareers that UBS will shed the Credit Suisse employees it no longer needs, resulting in cuts of up to 30 percent of investment banking staff in London, with potentially higher cuts to the markets unit.
Generous Severance Packages
London markets professionals are said to be offered four weeks' severance for every year of service, with notice period and vacation pay tacked onto that. Overall packages are capped at 250,000 pounds ($320,000), which is more generous than the standard handshake offered by investment banks of two weeks or less for each year at the firm, the report continues.
One outgoing director welcomed the payouts saying «A lot of people are going to struggle outside Credit Suisse,» many of whom have spent their entire careers at the bank. «People who joined more recently will find it easier to jump ship.»
Those among the lower ranks are not as sanguine, with the source saying «Management have been apologetic, but there's some bitterness that senior managers are being transferred to UBS when large parts of the rank and file are not,» with many feeling they didn't «get a fair hearing and that they never even met with UBS.»
Credit Suisse declined to comment to efinancialcareers.com on the matter.
