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Credit Suisse cuts 5,300 jobs worldwide

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-04 21:19

ZURICH – Credit Suisse Group said Thursday it is cutting 5,300 jobs - about 11 percent of its global work force - in a bid to reduce costs and take its business back into the black.

A Swiss flag hangs in front of a Credit Suisse bank branch in Bern, Switzerland. [Agencies]

Related readings:  Private sector cuts 250,000 jobs in November  JPMorgan cutting 9,200 jobs at Washington Mutual

Jobs will be lost in all parts of the world, said spokesman Marc Dosch, including in New York, London and Switzerland.

Switzerland's second biggest bank predicted another loss-making quarter, saying it was 3 billion francs (US$2.5 billion) in the red by the end of November because of adverse market conditions and expenses associated with the job cuts.

A fourth-quarter loss would be the third this year, following losses totaling over US$3 billion in the first and third quarter.

Credit Suisse said it hopes the cull, which should be completed by mid-2009 and will primarily affect its ailing investment banking business, will save 2 billion francs (US$1.65 billion) a year.

"These actions will better position us to weather the continuing challenging market conditions, capture opportunities that arise amid the continuing disruption, and prosper when markets improve," chief executive Brady Dougan said in a statement.

In line with other banks, Credit Suisse said Dougan and other senior officials will not receive salary bonuses for 2008 because of the bank's bad performance during the year.

The Zurich-based bank did not say whether it would follow its cross-town rival UBS AG by instituting a so-called "bonus-malus" system under which executives would see even their basic pay package cut if they produce poor results.