UBS plans January job cuts as Credit Suisse integration enters final year

UBS Group is preparing to launch a new round of job cuts in mid-January, marking the start of the final year of its complex integration of Credit Suisse, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The reductions will be followed by another wave later in 2026, once UBS begins switching off legacy computer systems inherited from Credit Suisse, the people said, requesting anonymity because the plans are not public.

UBS is nearing the end of the historic merger it undertook in 2023, when it acquired Credit Suisse in an emergency, government-brokered deal aimed at stabilising Switzerland’s financial system. The takeover pushed UBS’s global workforce to just under 120,000 employees overnight.

Since then, headcount has fallen by roughly 15,000, Bloomberg reported, although that remains well below an internal target of around 35,000 job reductions. UBS has not publicly confirmed the scale or timing of its overall workforce cuts.

The bank had previously disclosed that it planned to eliminate about 3,000 jobs in Switzerland over several years, an unusually detailed acknowledgment of domestic job losses that drew political scrutiny at the time.

Responding to questions, a UBS spokesperson said many of the reductions would be spread over multiple years, with some occurring through early retirement or by leaving vacancies unfilled. The bank would also seek to redeploy staff whose roles are eliminated, the spokesperson said.

UBS shares rose after the report, gaining more than 1% in Zurich trading, though the stock has lagged regional peers this year. Investor sentiment has been weighed down by uncertainty over Switzerland’s proposed tougher capital rules, which could require UBS to hold up to $26 billion in additional capital, although signs of compromise have recently emerged, Bloomberg reported.

The Zurich-based lender is in the middle of a major IT migration of Credit Suisse clients and aims to complete the full integration by the end of 2026. A second round of job cuts is expected after that migration reaches a critical stage next year, though UBS is expected to retain some IT and operations staff temporarily to ensure stability.

Job reductions linked to the merger have already rippled across UBS’s global operations over the past two years. The investment bank has borne the brunt of the cuts, while wealth management has been comparatively shielded as UBS seeks to retain key private bankers and their client relationships.

As the final phase of integration begins, analysts say execution risks remain high, with staff morale, client retention and regulatory pressure likely to shape how aggressively UBS moves on further cost reductions.