Credit Suisse plans to axe further jobs in London in a bid to cut costs and as the U.K. is preparing to leave the European Union, according to a media report.
Credit Suisse (CS) will eliminate a further 1,500 jobs in the City of London by the end of 2018, «Reuters» reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. After the cull, CS would have about 5,000 employees left in London.
The reasons for the massive reduction are the size of bonuses paid and the costs of maintaining operations in the U.K. capital. CS, Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, already moved numerous jobs from the city to the Republic of Ireland, which relatively speaking is much cheaper for companies to operate from.
The departure of the U.K. from the EU will have reinforced CS in its plans to pare operations in London, the report said.
UBS May Follow Suit
A spokeswoman for Credit Suisse told «Reuters» that the global job cuts had advanced most in London. Before CEO Tidjane Thiam in 2015 started reducing the number of jobs at CS, the bank in London had employed more than 9,000 staff and external advisers.
UBS, CS’ bigger rival, is also planning to relocate jobs that today are based in London. UBS Chairman Axel Weber previously said that some 1,000 jobs might have to be shifted to alternative locations should the U.K. lose access to the common market of the EU.
Other financial-services companies by contrast are maintaining their presence or plan to even expand in the City, including Zurich’s private bank Julius Baer or Geneva-based Unigestion.
