The SIX Group – the company which runs the Swiss stock exchange in Zurich – is to cut 150 jobs to help reduce costs by SFr30 million ($33.4 million).

The group, whose businesses include the management of credit and other card payments, cashless transactions, electronic bills and interbank payments, said on Tuesday that the difficult market environment worldwide and the strong Swiss franc had affected its profitability.

In a statement it said that profit for 2011 was SFr216 million – up 27.3 per cent due to special effects, but the group’s operating result has declined, in particular since the fourth quarter of 2011. SIX Group will announce its full financial results on March 27.

The Board of Directors has therefore decided to initiate “measures to secure competiveness”, the statement continued. This includes the cutting of around 150 positions of its 3,900 global workforce, mainly the Payment Services and Financial Information areas.

"The markets are still dominated by uncertainty and customers are under tremendous savings pressure. All this is dampening sales expectations for 2012 for all business areas," the group said. 

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