ZURICH (Reuters) – Hundreds of Credit Suisse employees are quitting every week in a sign of uncertainty over the bank set to be taken over by arch-rival UBS, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. wished to remain anonymous.
Credit Suisse bankers, worried about their future, are seeking more secure jobs with competitors, one of the sources said.
Swiss newspaper Blick reported earlier today that around 150 people worldwide are quitting Credit Suisse every day. One of the sources said she sees around 200 quits a week.
UBS agreed in March to buy Credit Suisse for three billion Swiss francs in a merger led by the authorities of the Confederation, forced to intervene and implement a rescue plan to avoid a crisis of confidence in the financial system.
Credit Suisse had just over 48,000 full-time employees at the end of the first quarter compared to 50,480 at the end of 2022.
The new entity formed by UBS and Credit Suisse will employ 120,000 people worldwide but UBS has already announced that it will cut jobs in order to cut costs.
UBS is trying to complete the takeover of Credit Suisse before the end of the current quarter, seeking quick approval from regulators around the world, to provide greater certainty for Credit Suisse clients and employees. . Its chairman, Colm Kelleher, said last week that would happen “very soon”.
Not a day goes by that we don’t receive a “goodbye” email from within the bank, one of the sources said. Within the investment bank, calls routinely go unanswered, she added.
Following an order issued by the Swiss Ministry of Finance, senior Credit Suisse executives have had their 2022 bonuses canceled or reduced, which contributed to employees’ decision to leave the bank, the source said.
(Report Noele Illien and Stefania Spezzati; French version Lina Golovnya, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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