UBS to Cut Two-Thirds of Credit Suisse Dealmakers in Asia

(Bloomberg) — UBS Group AG is weighing a plan to cut about two-thirds of Credit Suisse Group’s investment bankers in Asia-Pacific as part of the first major job reductions in the region following the merger of the two Swiss lenders, people familiar with the matter said. 

That would cost about 200 jobs at its global banking division in Asia over the next couple of months, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. The Zurich-based bank may announce global leadership changes internally on Monday, without details on the cuts, one of the people said.

Reuters reported earlier that UBS is letting go of about 80% of Credit Suisse investment bankers in Hong Kong starting this week. A Hong Kong-based spokesperson at UBS declined to comment.

UBS is still looking to retain more than 100 Credit Suisse investment bankers across Asia, with many of them focusing on markets outside of Hong Kong, the people said. The headcount for Credit Suisse’s domestic securities venture in China is largely unaffected by the latest round as the firm is in process of selling its stake to a new buyer, one of the people said.

UBS has shown little appetite for Credit Suisse’s investment bank since the government-brokered deal was announced in March. The bank said it would continue its own strategy of a smaller capital-lite securities unit, and would only use Credit Suisse’s investment bank to reinforce their global business while managing the rest down. 

The acquisition of Credit Suisse has increased UBS’s workforce to about 120,000, which the bank intends to ultimately reduce by about 30%, Bloomberg has reported. UBS aims to reduce staff costs by about $6 billion over the next several years.  

The move also reflects plummeting revenue at the investment banking divisions across the globe, due to a slowdown in deal-making. Deal values have fallen more than 40% this year which led to Wall Street banks going in retrenchment mode, planning job cuts and hiring freezes. 

(Updates with Reuters report on cuts in Hong Kong in third paragraph.)

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