(May 29): UBS Group AG has eliminated several hundred positions across its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, marking the latest wave of reductions tied to the acquisition of Credit Suisse three years ago.
The cuts mainly affected staff in support functions although some bankers in client-facing roles were included as well, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the employees whose roles were scrapped got offered new jobs inside the firm as part of an effort by UBS to cushion the impact on staff, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
A spokesperson for UBS said the bank will keep job cuts as a result of the integration “as low as possible” in Switzerland and globally. To mitigate redundancies, the bank is focusing on moving roles currently performed by third-party providers in-house, the spokesperson added.
UBS’s headcount has dropped by around 17,500 since the takeover, according to the latest data. In the months after the deal, the bank had plans to ultimately cut about 35,000 jobs, Bloomberg News has reported.
UBS has been seeking to shrink its workforce ever since the Credit Suisse takeover in 2023 expanded it by roughly 45,000 to almost 120,000 overnight. It has sold some units and eliminated roles seen as duplicate. The bank also recently finished migrating data from clients of Credit Suisse’s IT legacy systems to its own, making at least some roles on the project redundant.
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More job reductions are expected through the latter half of the year, the people said now.
UBS provides support to affected employees, such as helping them find a different role internally, the spokesperson said. Reductions will take place over the course of several years, they said, adding those will be mostly achieved through natural attrition, early retirement, internal mobility and internalisation of external roles.
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