Credit Suisse is Latest to Announce Job Cuts, is HSBC Next?

Swiss bank Credit Suisse CS announced Thursday that it would be cutting 2,000 jobs in light of a weak quarter and an uncertain economic outlook. The bank announced that its second quarter net profit fell just below $1 billion, to $959 million. Credit Suisse is only the latest European bank to announce cuts to its workforce. UBS UBS, also hit by weak earnings, will reduce its workforce by an unspecified amount of employees. Credit Suisse's chief executive cited a difficult operating environment as a contributing factor to the cuts. "We have to recognize the likelihood that the current headwinds in the economic and market environment may be more persistent than we would have hoped," CEO Brady Dougan said. Further, Dougan notes: "We expect interest rates to remain low for an extended period of time and the strong Swiss franc to continue to have an impact on our results. We may also continue to see lower levels of client activity and a volatile trading environment." Banks worldwide are scrutinizing all businesses in order to profitably operate in a new regulatory and competitive environment. Investment bank Goldman Sachs GS has undertaken a $1 billion cost-saving initiative, for example. Also noteworthy Thursday, Sky News is reporting that HSBC HBC is close to announcing thousands of job cuts. Sky News, citing an insider at the bank, said more than 10,000 of the bank's 330,000 employees were at risk of losing their positions.