Bank employees fear massive layoffs

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After a long period of suffering, Credit Suisse employees faced a grim end Sunday evening: UBS swallowed their employers. According to the Wall Street Journal, UBS could lay off at least 9,000 people in CS.

With the takeover, the new Superbank is going both ways in many areas. This applies above all to Swiss business, where the cut in personnel would be particularly radical. After the CS takeover, UBS has 40,000 employees in Switzerland alone – almost 17,000 from Credit Suisse.

CS CEO Ulrich Körner (60) speaks via video call to CS employees at an internal employee briefing meeting late Sunday evening. Among other things, he tells employees that they have an important role to play in the days and weeks ahead. An employee flight could prove fatal for the new Superbank.

Association seeks urgent task force

“The Swiss Bank Staff Association is very concerned,” Michael von Felten (62) tells Blick. “It is clear that many jobs are at stake and uncertainty about the future remains for thousands of employees,” says the President of the Swiss Bank Employees Association (SBPV). And on Blick TV, he adds: “It’s a big scandal.” It calls for the immediate establishment of a task force. “Measures to protect as many jobs as possible should be defined.”

Representatives of employers, staff committee and employees should be included in this task force. SBPV is also calling on other banks, the Swiss National Bank and the federal government to participate.

“Needs additional financial resources”

The bank staff association has already negotiated CS’ current social plan. At its core, it’s about supporting impacted employees in their future careers, whether at CS or elsewhere. Depending on the age, the notice period can be extended up to 12 months. But in the current situation this will no longer be enough. Additional measures and financial resources are needed,” says von Felten.

Credit Suisse announced a radical restructuring last summer, including major staff cuts. The bank planned to reduce the number of employees from 52,000 to 43,000 by 2025. In Switzerland alone, a reduction of 2000 people is planned, and this is already progressing. CS still employs 50,000 people worldwide, currently in addition to 74,000 UBS employees.

limiting risks

Clear for SBPV: Neither the thousands of CS employees in Switzerland nor the general public should pay for mistakes in the CS board room.

The Swiss Confederation of Trade Unions (SGB) SGB said in a statement that after the actual collapse of the CS, measures should finally be developed to prevent such incidents in the future. “Banks must have sufficient reserves to cover losses themselves,” writes the SGB. There are restrictions on the risks a bank can take.

Source :Blick