UBS releases ‘hundreds’ of staff in fresh wave of job cuts

UBS is looking to shed another $5.5 billion in costs. Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Swiss bank UBS has begun a wave of job cuts in its home market Switzerland, with hundreds of employees receiving notice in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The current round impacts both higher management levels and lower ranks, the people said, who asked not to be named discussing private details. Employees can enter a programme that allows up to a year to find a new role within the bank, the people said.

UBS is pushing on with headcount reduction as it integrates its former rival Credit Suisse, which it bought in an emergency rescue in 2023. UBS has previously said there would ultimately be around 3,000 redundancies in Switzerland.

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The job cuts are happening at a time when UBS is working to erase most traces of Credit Suisse from public view in Switzerland. The bank has recently replaced the former rival’s logo from its headquarters in Zurich, and it is preparing to switch off its IT systems as it transfers domestic client data to its own.

Billions in cost savings

The bank will keep the number of job cuts in Switzerland and globally as low as possible, a spokesperson for UBS said. The combined banks had about 35,000 staff in the country at the end of 2023.

The support to impacted employees also includes help finding a new role externally if need be, and a comprehensive social plan that is a combination of the strongest components of the prior UBS and Credit Suisse plans, the spokesperson said.

Speaking to Bloomberg last week, Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti said he would keep cutting headcount in the wake of the historic acquisition. The Swiss lender seeks to shed another $5.5 billion in costs in addition to the $7.5 billion already achieved since the deal.

Over-bloated workforce

It’s “inevitable” that this will involve redundancies, though UBS would try to rely on voluntary leavers as much as possible, he said.

UBS’s workforce swelled to roughly 120,000 from below 75,000 previously after the bank agreed to acquire Credit Suisse in the government-brokered emergency operation almost two years ago.

That number has since dropped by about 10,000, though UBS hasn’t defined a target headcount. The bank will provide an updated figure of total employees on February 4 when it reports its 2024 results.

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