UBS Group AG has signalled it will shutter roughly two-thirds of Credit Suisse’s investment bank — including many trading operations — underlining the scale of job cuts to come as the Swiss bank absorbs its one-time rival.
UBS has put the majority of risk-weighted assets from Credit Suisse’s investment bank into its wind-down unit as part of a push to shed assets that don’t fit with its existing strategy, according to a results presentation on Thursday.
UBS executives have said they want to cut back riskier trading operations and will be “extremely selective” in taking on trading and derivative assets, while minimizing losses from disposals. The bank expects to have its integration and run-off of unwanted assets largely completed by the end of 2026.
The bank has given little guidance on the overall number of job cuts that will accompany the restructuring. But the deal increased UBS’s global workforce to about 120,000, which it intends to ultimately reduce by about 30%, Bloomberg has reported.
US$55 Billion
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In total, US$55 billion ($74.68 billion) of RWAs were moved into the non-core arm by the end of June, including US$36 billion from its capital release unit and wealth and asset management divisions and US$17 billion from Credit Suisse’s investment bank.
About US$9 billion of those assets will be retained in the core investment bank, which is about 13% of UBS’s existing allocation to the overall investment banking business. The figures exclude assets tied to operational risk.
The retained assets largely relate to the mergers and acquisitions and capital markets business, as well as some parts of the research function although it will also look to build out capabilities in those areas of trading it has retained, a person familiar with the matter said.
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Earlier this month UBS announced that it was terminating an agreement with the Swiss government in which the state guaranteed up to US$10 billion of losses that could stem from the acquisition of Credit Suisse assets.
That step gave UBS more flexibility in its plan for its non-core unit. It also removes the obligation to report to the government on the management of assets covered by the state backstop.
