Credit Suisse said Thursday it had lost a net SFr3bn ($2.5bn) in the two months to end-November and would axe about 11% of its workforce, mainly in investment banking. The lay-offs comprise 5,300 internal jobs and a further 1,400 with contractors in support functions such as IT. The “vast majority” will be shed by the end of June. About 3,500 of the jobs will be in investment banking, mainly in New York and London. Earlier this week, the bank said it was cutting 650 positions in the UK, chiefly in investment banking, which were included in Thursday’s total. The cuts come as investment banks slash costs to adjust to falling markets and an increasingly grim economic outlook. Most have already scaled back the fixed-income businesses most directly affected by the credit crunch and are now applying cuts more widely as the slump in equities erodes trading revenues and the economic slowdown hits demand for investment banking services. The severity of the recent market downturn left Credit Suisse with little choice but to take radical action, says Lex, warning that while the bank may be better placed following the cuts, “there is still a storm out there”.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 5:41 and is filed under Capital markets, People. Tagged with credit suisse. Edit this entry.