UBS Group has retained less than half of Credit Suisse’s bankers in Germany, giving a glimpse of the scale of job losses following last year’s merger of the two Swiss lenders.
The redundancies in Germany are a mix of cuts, early retirement and voluntary departures, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential.
A representative for UBS declined to comment. The Zurich-based bank doesn’t disclose headcount by country.
UBS has been cutting thousands of staff across the world following its emergency rescue of Credit Suisse, with the investment bank bearing much of the burden. Wealth management employees have fared better, as UBS seeks to retain key Credit Suisse private bankers and the clients they served.
In Germany, though, Credit Suisse barely boosted UBS’s market position in the wealth business. That’s because the defunct bank had sold its private banking unit to Bethmann Bank, the German subsidiary of ABN Amro, over a decade ago.
UBS aims to save around US$6 billion in staff costs in the coming years. Total headcount fell by more than 3,500 in the second quarter of this year, bringing the workforce to about 133,000. BLOOMBERG
