The Swiss investment bank UBS is reportedly preparing to cut more than half the 45,000 staff it inherited from the takeover of stricken rival Credit Suisse, in a move that is expected to begin as early as next month.
Insiders have indicated that between 30,000 and 35,000 staff are likely to leave the combined organisation this year in three rounds of cuts beginning in July, according to Bloomberg News.
Credit Suisse employees will bear the brunt of the cuts, with about 25,000 posts held by its staff before the takeover expected to be removed.
The prospect of the huge job losses is a further blow to the City of London after rivals Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs announced a reduction in staff numbers earlier this year.
Credit Suisse offices in the capital are expected to be among of the worst hit as UBS seeks to protect operations in Switzerland. Senior executives, traders and thousands of support staff in New York and some parts of Asia are also expected to be told their positions are redundant, according to the report.
UBS has previously stressed that the bank is keen to reduce costs overall and has not set a target for a reduction in the workforce. It reluctantly agreed to buy Credit Suisse in a deal thrashed out with the Swiss government and local regulators in March, after the rival bank came close to bankruptcy.
The costs of the merger were expected to reach $17bn (£13.4bn), although UBS is estimated to have inherited a portfolio of assets from Credit Suisse worth $35bn, and in the immediate aftermath of the takeover the combined workforce rose to 120,000.
Shares of UBS rose 1.4% at the open on Wednesday, trading at 17.81 Swiss francs ($19.907) as of 9.05am in Zurich. A spokesperson for UBS declined to comment on the report of job cuts.
At an event in Zurich on Tuesday the UBS chief executive, Sergio Ermotti, said the integration was going “very well”.
