Swiss banking giant UBS is likely to cut an additional 10,000 jobs by 2027, according to a report by SonntagsBlick cited by Reuters. While the bank has not officially confirmed the exact number, it acknowledged that further workforce reductions are planned as part of its long-term integration of Credit Suisse, which UBS acquired in 2023 during Switzerland’s biggest financial rescue.
If implemented, this would amount to nearly a 9% cut in UBS’s global workforce, which stood at about 110,000 employees at the end of 2024.
UBS Responds, Stops Short of Confirming the Figure
In response to the report, UBS said it would “keep the number of job cuts in Switzerland and globally as low as possible.” The bank clarified that the reductions would occur gradually and mostly through non-disruptive methods such as natural attrition, early retirement, internal job mobility, and bringing outsourced roles back in-house.
This signals that while layoffs may not come in sudden waves, thousands of roles could still disappear steadily over the next two years.
Credit Suisse Merger Continues to Drive Job Losses
The latest round of possible cuts is directly linked to the massive restructuring following UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse in 2023. That rescue deal, engineered to prevent a systemic banking collapse, created overlapping teams across investment banking, wealth management, risk, compliance, and back-office operations.
Since then, UBS has already eliminated thousands of roles globally to remove redundancies. The potential addition of 10,000 more job losses shows that the cleanup is far from over.
What This Means for the Global Banking Workforce
The planned reductions reflect deeper structural shifts underway in global banking. Major drivers include:
- Integration inefficiencies post-mega mergers
- Slower investment banking activity worldwide
- Cost pressures in a high-interest-rate environment
- Growing automation and digitalisation of operations
For banking professionals, especially in Europe and global financial hubs, this indicates prolonged uncertainty in employment even among top-tier institutions.
A Delicate Balancing Act for UBS Leadership
UBS now faces a tight balancing act—cutting costs aggressively enough to protect profitability, while avoiding damage to staff morale, brand reputation, and service quality. Investors are watching closely, as execution risks remain high in any merger of this scale.
The full impact of the Credit Suisse takeover will likely reshape not just UBS’s workforce, but the Swiss banking landscape for years to come.
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