Five waves of UBS layoffs to start in June: report

LAYOFFS under Swiss banking giant UBS’s cost-cutting programme announced after its takeover of Credit Suisse will take place in five waves this year starting in June, newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday (Apr 21).

UBS was not immediately available for comment.

In August, UBS announced its plan to eliminate around one in 12 of its Swiss jobs and cut costs by more than US$10 billion as it consolidates a competitor that unravelled as panicked customers withdrew billions from their accounts.

Most of the cost savings are set to come from cutting staff and analysts have estimated between 30,000 and 35,000 jobs could go globally.

“In total, 50-60 per cent of ex-CS (Credit Suisse staff) will probably be laid off over the five rounds,” SonntagsZeitung quoted a source it described as an insider as saying.

After the first round in June, in which 25-30 per cent of former Credit Suisse staff are expected to be made redundant, the next rounds will take place in August, September, October and November, the newspaper reported, putting the planned savings at 12 billion Swiss francs (S$17.9 billion). REUTERS