UBS to Cut 36,000 Jobs
After the decision to take over the troubled Swiss lender Credit Suisse, UBS Group AG revealed plans to lay off as much as 30% of its current workforce, translating to approximately 36,000 positions, SonntagsZeitung reported
UBS is joining the tide of massive layoffs in finance and big tech industries. According to data reported by Bloomberg, nearly 538,000 people have lost their jobs in numerous economically important sectors since October 2022.
In just one week in January, 52,000 jobs were cut, the worst start to a year in 14 years when the world struggled with the adverse effects of the financial crisis.
172,000 jobs were cut in the technology sector and 110,000 in consumer discretionary, while the financial industry was in third place, with nearly 81,000 professionals departing.
Interestingly, 240,000 positions were affected in only 20 companies, where UBS announced the most significant cuts.
Over the past few months, employment has been slashed by such tech giants as Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet. Meanwhile, in the financial sector, reductions were announced by troubled Credit Suisse and several other major banks.
JPMorgan announced in February that it was going to cut jobs in its investment banking division, and Goldman Sachs revealed in January that it was preparing to cut 3,200 positions.
In contrast, it had previously suggested that up to 4,000 people might lose their jobs.
Job cuts were also reported by Robinhood, a retail trading platform that competes with traditional banks. Due to the “deterioration of the macro environment,” it decided to lay off 23% of its workforce, or about 780 people, as recently as last year.
The latest round of layoffs comes in the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which shook global banking by making it difficult to operate in an already challenging environment of high-interest rates and rising inflation.
SVB played a significant role in exacerbating Credit Suisse’s crisis, causing its market valuation to plunge to historic lows and prompting the decision to enter into a deal with UBS.
The bank agreed to acquire its struggling competitor for CHF 3 billion while also taking on up to $5.4 billion in losses. UBS earned $7.6 billion in 2022, but attempting to merge the two giant lenders may prove more difficult than initially anticipated. #UBS to Cut 36,000 Jobs
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