Credit Suisse To Cut 500 Jobs

by Stewart Douglas

Story link: Credit Suisse To Cut 500 Jobs

Investment bank Credit Suisse Group has today announced that it is to cut back some 500 jobs in its investment divisions as a measure of cutting costs and in response to the slowing demand for investment services as a result of the current market conditions.

The bank today said it had been forced to cut jobs within its bond trading units as a result of a slowdown in earnings in the sector from the sub-prime collapse of the summer months, and the more risk-averse climate post-credit crunch, which has seen private investors and equity groups shy away from traditional investment services.

A spokesman for Credit Suisse today said that the job cuts reflected the longer term projections for demand in its bond trading services, and that the extra staff would be required to be layed off in order to maintain efficiency and meet the needs of investment clients.

The move comes as the latest round of job cuts to follow the collapse of the sector, which has seen a total of 25,000 redundancies throughout the sector over the last few months, at all levels and amongst all calibre of organisation, from Wall Street down to smaller private equity firms.

Whilst the firm’s announcement did project further negativity on to the market, it did also announce that it was to step up recruitment in other areas of its business as demand requires, with a view to restructuring their organisation in order to maintain profitability.

The announcement comes at a time where several other investment banks are undergoing similar restructuring operations, with the need to improve efficiency never greater in the current market climate.