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ECONOMY

UBS to fire hundreds of Credit Suisse bankers: report

Several hundred Credit Suisse investment bankers will soon be fired as UBS begins to implement the merger of the two banks, the Swiss weekly HandelsZeitung said Friday.

Published: 29 July 2023 10:03 CEST
UBS to fire hundreds of Credit Suisse bankers: report
Two men sit under a sign of Credit Suisse displayed on a building in Lugano, on June 9, 2023. Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI/AFP.

Several hundred Credit Suisse investment bankers will soon be fired as UBS begins to implement the merger of the two banks, the Swiss weekly HandelsZeitung said Friday.

UBS agreed to buy its rival in a hastily arranged 3-billion-franc ($3.5 billion) fire sale over a March weekend by Swiss authorities afraid that a weakened Credit Suisse would go bankrupt, with speculation rife since about the impact on jobs.

HandelsZeitung said that according to its sources UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti wants to rapidly get to work on eliminating the huge amount of duplication in their operations.

“The transformation is beginning: in the coming days several hundred Credit Suisse bankers will receive termination notices,” said the weekly.

It noted that the Swiss media have speculated about between 30,000 and 35,000 job cuts across the world.

At the end of last year, the two banks had around 120,000 employees between them across the world, including 37,000 in Switzerland.

UBS declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

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POLITICS

What are Switzerland’s top priorities for the coming year?

The year 2024 is not finished yet, but the Swiss government has already set its “concrete and quantifiable objectives” for next year. What are they?

Published: 19 September 2024 13:55 CEST
What are Switzerland’s top priorities for the coming year?

On Wednesday September 18th, president Viola Amherd unveiled the Federal Council’s goals for 2025.

“In 2025, the focus will be on bilateral relations with the European Union, social policy, and continuing reforms in the healthcare sector,” the Federal Council announced in a press release.

All these issues are likely to have at least some impact on Switzerland’s population, including foreign residents.

Let’s have a closer look at these priorities.

EU-Swiss relations

After Bern walked out of its negotiations with Brussels in May 2021, and following a nearly three-year ‘cooling off’ period, the two parties resumed their talks in March of 2024.

The currently on-going negotiations aim, according to  the European Commission, “at ensuring a level playing field for competition between EU and Swiss companies operating within the EU internal market and guarantee the protection of the rights of EU citizens working in Switzerland, including non-discrimination between citizens of different Member States.” 

So if you are a citizen of any European Union state, the outcome of these talks will impact you — hopefully in a positive way.

Social policy

This will relate to the country’s state pension scheme /AHV / AVS), which includes the funding and implementation in 2026 of the 13th pension — a move that will affect both the retired and the still active workforce.

READ ALSO: How much will the 13th pension payment in Switzerland cost you? 

Healthcare reforms

This is not a new issue for Switzerland — on the contrary, the government has been trying cut the soaring costs of the health system for years.

The challenge it has is to curb the spending without cutting — or scraping altogether — various benefits currently covered by the obligatory health insurance scheme.

No concrete results that are acceptable to everyone have yet been found, so the Federal Council will continue this task in 2025.

These are the main challenges the government will tackle next year, but it has listed other ‘to-do’ tasks as well

They are:

  • To “sustainably secure its prosperity and seize the opportunities offered by digital technology”
  • To promote national and intergenerational cohesion
  • To ensure security, working towards peace and acting consistently and reliably internationally
  • To protect the climate and care for natural resources

Also on next year’s government agenda: to decide whether to further extend the special ‘S’ refugee status for people from Ukraine, which expires in March 2026. 

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