Credit Suisse London bankers braced for new round of redundancies

Another round of redundancies is said to be on its way at Credit Suisse.

Senior headhunters say staff at Credit Suisse's London investment bank are being informed this week - possibly today - about a new round of job cuts which is expected to affect all divisions of the bank. Credit Suisse declined to comment.

If Credit Suisse does announce a new round of cuts this week, it will be the latest of several this year and the first since the summer break. The Swiss bank made 50 equities layoffs in May and has removed most members of its London rates team. So far, however, the investment banking division (IBD) has been comparatively unscathed. Last October, the bank promised to cut 30% of its headcount in London in an attempt to cut costs. When the bank announced its second quarter results in July, 1,850 London jobs had been cut already and there were a further 550 cuts to go,

As we've noted before, Credit Suisse has cost issues, particularly in its global markets business. CEO Tidjane Thiam wants to cut CHF4.3bn from costs before 2018. In a possible sign that the pace of cuts will be stepped up before the end of the year, Credit Suisse replaced Tim O'Hara, former head of its global markets business, with Brian Chin, in September.

Credit Suisse isn't the only bank with big cost cutting plans. As the chart below shows, most banks confirmed their commitment to cutting costs in their second quarter results. Along with Deutsche, CS is most in need of trimming, however.

Credit Suisse is due to announce its third quarter results on November 3rd and Thiam is presenting at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch tomorrow morning. It could be that Credit Suisse bankers receive notice of their impending layoff while their CEO reiterates his strategy.

Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com

Photo credit:The Credit Suisse Building! by Sharikul Islam is licensed under CC BY 2.0.