“the merger will increase the drain on the workforce, by revealing redundancies”

One hundred and twenty-two thousand employees in the world is too much, far too much. Back in his old house, the new CEO of UBS, Sergio Ermotti, is preparing to cut to the chase, after the acquisition for 3 billion euros – under pressure from the Swiss authorities – of Credit Suisse, on the verge of bankruptcy. From 25,000 to 36,000 positions, or 20% to 30% of the employees, of the new banking giant could be eliminated, advanced, Sunday, April 2, the Zurich weekly SonntagsZeitungciting unnamed insiders.

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Not all layoffs are attributable to the operation, since the bankrupt bank was already planning 9,000 job cuts before the operation, the result of poor management for several years.

But the merger will increase the bleeding, by revealing redundancies: their agencies are neighbors in the heart of many cities, like the headquarters of the two banks located side by side on Paradeplatz in Zurich. Credit Suisse employees are most at risk, according to unions, which are calling for a bailout. ” The stakes are colossal for its 17,000 employees in Switzerland.”underlined the Swiss Trade Union, the day after the merger.

10% of gross domestic product

The social shock was doubled, Sunday, by a legal shock. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has announced the opening of an investigation into possible irregularities during the forced marriage. “It is a question of analyzing and identifying any criminal offense which could fall within the scope of [sa] skill “, he explained in an email sent to AFP. Here too, the stakes are very high for the Swiss Confederation, whose financial industry (banks, insurance and reinsurance companies, etc.) weighs nearly 10% of gross domestic product. Justice wants to ensure that the Swiss financial center remains ” own “.

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Things have improved in the Swiss “paradise”, less opaque since the announced end of banking secrecy in 2009, demanded by the G20 and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the entry into force of the automatic exchange of data in 2018. Multiple scandals, many of which date back to the 2000s, have found a judicial epilogue in Europe and the United States. They very often involved the two wealth management giants.

The last dates back to December 2021: UBS will have to pay 1.8 billion euros in fines, including 800 million to France, for illicit bank canvassing and laundering of aggravated tax fraud. In these clean hands operations, we have the unpleasant feeling that it is ultimately the employees who foot the bill.

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