Swiss banking group Credit Suisse plans to cut nearly 2,000 jobs at its London base and move some of them to cheaper locations like India and Poland, a media report said today.
One of the world's largest investment banks has indicated that about a third of its British workforce, who are based mainly in Canary Wharf in the financial hub of London, could go to cut costs.
"We have 6,600 jobs [in London], 2,400 front office, 4,200 back office. Out of the 4,200 about 2,400 are directly connected to the front office, so they need to be co-located with the front office," said Tidjane Thiam, chief executive of Credit Suisse.
"The other 1,800 frankly don't need to be in London and that's the potential we're looking at, plus a little bit of efficiency," Thiam was quoted as saying by 'The Times'.
The cuts are part of a plan to reduce the bank's cost-base worldwide. There will be 1,600 job cuts in Switzerland and 2,000 in the US, where Credit Suisse's private bank will be transferred to Wells Fargo.
The bank wants to shave about 10 per cent off its cost base.
The Zurich-headquartered group is looking at India as one of the regions to base some of the jobs cut in London, the report said.
Thiam said the group would make the business an appropriate size as it bet its future on boosting its investment management operations and private bank, particularly in Asia.
The bank also aims to consolidate its London estate, which includes five sites in the city, by subletting some locations as well as moving staff offshore.
It also announced plans to raise 4.1 billion pounds from investors to bolster its balance sheet.
Credit Suisse, which employs 20,500 people in investment banking worldwide, runs large parts of the division from the capital and employs asset managers and private bankers in Britain.
The news of the downsizing comes ahead of likely retrenchment in London forDeutsche Bank, which is set to make a strategy announcement on October 29.
A number of global banking houses, including HSBC and Standard Chartered, have indicated the need to move their base out of London due to the high cost of operating in the UK's financial hub.
