UBS to cut up to 36,000 jobs; reduce 20%-30% of workforce

UBS Group AG will reduce its workforce by 20% to 30% after completing its takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG, as reported by a local paper SonntagsZeitung. This comes at a time when Swiss prosecutors began gathering evidence as part of a potential criminal probe into the transaction.

According to the Swiss newspaper, which cited an unnamed senior manager at UBS, up to 11,000 workers will be laid off in Switzerland and another 25,000 globally. By the end of 2022, the two lenders together employed almost 125,000 people, with about 30% of them living in Switzerland.

The newspaper's estimate of layoffs dwarfs the 9,000 that Credit Suisse revealed prior to UBS's rescue of it. Given the significant overlap between the competitors, the ultimate total was predicted to be a multiple of that amount.

UBS has publicly stated that it will be as transparent as it can regarding employment cuts. Even though it was obvious that there would be large layoffs, the lender considers talent retention to be a significant execution risk for the takeover.