The Swiss lobby for banking staff has urged Credit Suisse to swiftly clarify how it plans to cut 1,600 jobs in Switzerland over the coming three years. The country's second-biggest bank today posted a loss of almost 3 billion francs and said it will step up measures to cut costs.
Credit Suisse (CS) today announced it will accelerate the plan to reduce its workforce, with 4,000 jobs set to disappear in branches across the globe. Banking staff in Switzerland and in London are braced for substantial cuts because this is where CS has a big chunk of its staff.
Retirement, Placements Urged
The Swiss Association of Bank Employees, which has 9,000 members, said it was paramount that CS didn't dismiss any employees but tried to reduce the workforce by not replacing those who left the company.
«The association urges Credit Suisse to be fully transparent with its staff about the planned job measures» to avoid uncertainty, it said in a statement on Thursday following the announcement of Credit Suisse’s 2015 result. «Credit Suisse staff should be given the opportunity to suggest suitable alternatives to avoid outright cuts.»
Consultants and Contractors in Focus
CS Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam today said that the bank, which also plans to ramp up hiring of client advisers in Switzerland, will seek to avoid firing employees to reach the staff targets.
«With the turnover in Switzerland, the kind of numbers we are talking about over three years are manageable with early retirement and other such measures,» Thiam told a news conference in Zurich. «We have a lot of contractors and consultants, so our priority is to reduce those before we reduce staff.»
