UBS to cut two-thirds of Credit Suisse Asia investment bankers

UBS Group is weighing a plan to cut about two-thirds of Credit Suisse Group’s investment bankers in the Asia-Pacific as part of the first major job reductions in the region following the merger of the two Swiss lenders, people familiar with the matter said. 

That would cost about 200 jobs at its global banking division in Asia over the next couple of months, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. The Zurich-based bank may announce global leadership changes internally on Monday (Aug 7), without details on the cuts, one of the sources added.

A Hong Kong-based spokesperson at UBS declined to comment.

UBS is still looking to retain more than 100 Credit Suisse investment bankers across Asia, with many of them focusing on markets outside Hong Kong, the sources indicated. The headcount for Credit Suisse’s domestic securities venture in China is largely unaffected by the latest round as the company is in process of selling its stake to a new buyer, one of the sources said.

The acquisition of Credit Suisse has increased UBS’ workforce to about 120,000, which the bank intends to ultimately reduce by about 30 per cent, Bloomberg previously reported. UBS aims to reduce staff costs by about US$6 billion over the next several years.  BLOOMBERG