Credit Suisse, HSBC to axe 1,150 jobs

Switzerland’s Credit Suisse AG Britain’s HSBC Holdings are axing hundreds of banking jobs as the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression continues to bite.

The cuts are the latest in a wave of job losses in which around 90,000 jobs have been axed at major global banks since September. Of these, more than 50,000 were at US bank Citigroup.
Credit Suisse said on Tuesday the bank was cutting 650 jobs, equivalent to roughly 3% of its investment banking workforce of about 21,300. “The cuts will be made mainly in investment banking,” a spokesman for the Swiss bank said.

The bank, which employed around 50,000 people globally at the end of September, has already slashed 1,800 jobs this year.

HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, said it was cutting 500 jobs at its UK banking business following a review of the business. The bank employs 58,000 people in Britain.

“We deeply regret taking this step, but we consider it essential to ensure our business is operating as efficiently as possible and that we are best placed to deal with the economic downturn and maintain our levels of customer service,” HSBC UK Managing Director Paul Thurston said.

JP Morgan Chase & Co has said it will cut a total of 9,200 jobs at Washington Mutual, which it acquired September 25 after Washington Mutual became the largest US bank to fail amid the ongoing credit crisis.

Of the 9,200 jobs being eliminated as JP Morgan integrates Washington Mutual, 4,000 will be cut by the end of January. The remaining 5,200 employees will remain with JP Morgan through a transition period, but will lose their positions by the end of 2009. ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, also plans to cut 1,400 support jobs at its French operations. The job cuts will take the form of voluntary redundancies, Daniel Soury-Lavergne, head of the steelmaker’s French business, said in an e-mailed statement.

European steel maker Corus, which was acquired by the Tatas, has said it will cut 146 jobs at one of its units. Corus in a statement said as part of the reorganisation process, the decision has been taken to reduce employment levels at Corus Tubes, a business division of the company, 146 jobs would be at risk.

Citi cuts package
American behemoth Citigroup, which is axing over 75,000 jobs this year to help cut costs and fight financial crisis, is now slashing the severance package, that too for staff having put 10 or more years with the bank.

Source: Agencies