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Introduction: Jobs at risk after UBS takeover of Credit Suisse
Good morning and welcome to our current coverage of business, financial markets and the global economy.
As the dust settles after UBS’s emergency bailout of Credit Suisse, fears of major job losses are growing.
Last weekend’s wedding between the two Swiss banks will create a 120,000-strong financial institution, and it already seems inevitable that the workforce will be cut.
Switzerland’s financial sector is already expecting a major blow from the controversial takeover, with the Swiss bank employees’ association warning yesterday that “many employees’ jobs are at risk”.
Credit Suisse’s domestic business and its investment bank, which together employ more than 30,000 staff, are expected to bear the brunt of the cuts, the Financial Times reported this morning.
About a third of the 120,000 jobs at the combined group could be at risk as UBS breaks up most of the investment bank and sheds overlapping roles in Switzerland, according to people familiar with UBS’s plans.
It FT: explains.
Credit Suisse, which employed just over 50,000 people at the end of 2022, was already on a massive job-cutting spree, having cut 4,000 positions this year.
But the takeover is expected to result in many of Credit Suisse’s 17,000 investment bankers losing their jobs as UBS breaks up much of the unit.
President of UBS on Sunday night Colm Keleher explained that it plans to spin off Credit Suisse’s investment banking arm. UBS itself operates under the investment bank lite model, which is more focused on asset management, which is less risky.
Kelleher (who apparently had a beer at Zurich’s James Joyce pub over the weekend to bail out Credit Suisse) told reporters on Sunday evening that it was “simply too early to say” what will happen about the job cuts, adding:
“We will be careful employers, but we have to do it in a rational way, thoughtfully, and when we sit down and analyze what we have to do.”
Mark Yallop, former chief executive of UBS in the UK, said he believed job losses would be “inevitable”. He told Radio 4’s Today program on Monday that they would likely focus on Credit Suisses’ investment banking business and middle office, technology and operational roles.
Some bankers at Credit Suisse aren’t going to turn around and see the ax fall.
Bloomberg said that “headhunters” and rival lenders from Singapore to London to New York had fielded calls from distraught Credit Suisse staff over the past few days, adding:
A firm in Singapore answered inquiries from about 30 private bankers at Credit Suisse on Monday about available jobs, while another recruiter in Hong Kong has been talking to more than 20 senior investment bankers since last week, the people said, asking not to be identified in the discussion. confidential information.
Meanwhile, a firm that focuses on CEO jobs said it had received similar calls since late Friday, particularly for the wealth sector.
Financial markets appear calmer today after Monday’s volatile session. Major European stock market indices are expected to rise this morning.
Investors panicked yesterday that some Credit Suisse bondholders were being wiped out before shareholders got paid, reversing the normal course of business.
But UK and European officials reassured markets by insisting they would stick to the conventional legacy.
The agenda
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7 am GMT. UK public finances for February
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9.45 GMT. The Treasury Committee gathers economists’ views on the spring budget
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10:00 GMT. Germany’s ZEW index of economic sentiment
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14:00 GMT. US existing homes for sale