Credit Suisse: The Swiss Bank Employees’ Association (SBPV) said on Tuesday, in a plea letter delivered to the Swiss parliament that Credit Suisse and the new parent company, UBS must freeze all job cuts planned during the emergency merger of Credit Suisse and UBS.
Credit Suisse and UBS staff have been speculating about potential layoffs in both banks. This comes as many large western companies such as Bed Bath & Beyond laid off about 1,000 staff, Walmart also joined the list of big companies that are planning to lay staff, this led to massive job cuts at Walmart, Glassdoor, and Amazon announcing that the company will cut another 9,000 jobs across its global business, after announcing it had expanded staff-cutting plans to affect more than 18,000 workers, Facebook’s parent company, “META” reported 11,000 job cuts announced since November and the 10,000 announced recently, Citigroup, Twitter just to mention a few have all fired staffs to cut excess expenses.
$3.31 billion Credit Suisse Purchase
In a bid to avoid a meltdown in the country’s financial system, the Suisse government, the central bank, and the market regulator engineered a deal between Credit Suisse and UBS. Pending the collapse of Credit Suisse, UBS agreed to purchase Credit Suisse which for years has been seen as a core rival of UBS. The emergency purchase to a surprise to many as the deal only cost 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.31 billion).
The Swiss Bank Employees’ Association
According to Reuters, the Swiss Bank Employees’ Association went as far as making it clear that both banks’ managements have failed to consider staff affected by the recent collapse at Credit Suisse bank and they demand consideration of staff affected by the collapse of Credit Suisse and that all layoffs are to be halted until the end of 2023.
Parliament’s Resolution
The Swiss parliament has promised to meet in an emergency session to discuss the rescue plan sponsored by the Suisse government in the rescue of Credit Suisse.
No one seems safe
In Switzerland alone, Credit Suisse employs about 17,000 employees while UBS employs about 22,000. It is now believed that some staff at both banks have made it clear to reporters that many of the staff at Credit Suisse and UBS employees have been looking at their future with uncertainty. No one is seriously at rest with full confidence if their jobs are secured.
Globally, Credit Suisse employs 45,000 people, while UBS has 74,000 staff in total.
Natalia Ferrara, who is the managing director of The Swiss Bank Employees’ Association (SBPV), explained that the debate so far about the fast takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, the talk about numbers, money, regulation, and bonuses needs to change, she said when she wrote to lawmakers.
What is the bank saying
UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti, has said it is too early to speculate on job cuts. The bank has however warned that there might be “change and hard decisions” ahead following the takeover.
The giant bank could reduce its workforce by 20 to 30 percent, it has been reported by the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, with 11,000 jobs being cut in Switzerland. According to CNBC, The Swiss Bank Employees’ Association (SBPV) demanded support from the Swiss parliament towards their demand for a freeze on all layoffs by the end of 2023 in the letter.
“It must not be the case that parliament debates money and technical aspects of the CS rescue for days during the extraordinary session and the people affected are forgotten,” Ferrara wrote. “Now it is time for the affected employees of the two banks to be given protection and respect”.