UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti on the Integration of Credit Suisse: Job Cuts, Profit Potential, and Financial Center Safety

2023-09-03 06:34:48

For UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti, outsourcing the Swiss branch of Credit Suisse was not an option, although it would have resulted in the loss of fewer jobs. “Integration is the best option for all parties involved,” he says.

In case of outsourcing 1000 jobs would have been saved. But Credit Suisse would have had to be restructured in any case, which would have led to 600 layoffs, so that the difference ultimately represents 400 positions, Sergio Ermotti said on Sunday in Le Matin Dimanche and the SonntagsZeitung. “But it is clear that each position lost affects us,” he continues.

On Thursday, UBS unveiled its strategy for integrating Credit Suisse and announced the loss of 3,000 jobs in Switzerland. No less than 1,000 identified duplicate positions will be removed by the end of 2024.

Sergio Ermotti says he cannot speak for the time being on the future of the 120,000 employees by 2025. “It depends on many developments and absolute figures only lead to misunderstandings,” he said.

>> More information: The integration of Credit Suisse into UBS will lead to 3,000 job cuts in Switzerland

UBS “no more dangerous”

UBS might realize an additional profit of 10.5 billion francs by receiving gains that Credit Suisse had to write off due to accounting rules. But it is only “if we do everything correctly that there will be a profit from the merger”, specifies Sergio Ermotti.

We were concerned, because we knew that CS had the wrong business model

Sergio Ermotti, CEO d’UBS

He further states that UBS management has been closely monitoring the situation of Credit Suisse since 2016. “Because we were doing our duty”, but also to “examine the possibilities of takeovers”. “We were concerned, because we knew CS had the wrong business model,” he says.

While some worry regarding the importance that UBS, the first Swiss bank, acquired by buying Credit Suisse, Sergio Ermotti assures that the simple fact of being bigger does not mean that the banking establishment is now more dangerous for Switzerland. “On the contrary, I think the financial center has become safer,” he says.

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