Following its emergency acquisition of Credit Suisse in 2023, UBS has been undertaking a massive integration process impacting tens of thousands of jobs globally. New pension fund data reveals the restructuring is disproportionately affecting former Credit Suisse employees, raising questions about parity in the consolidation. While UBS maintains both entities’ pension plans remain separate until at least 2027,a substantially higher percentage of Credit Suisse staff departed their plan in 2024 compared to UBS employees,signaling the human cost of the merger is unevenly distributed.
Former Credit Suisse employees are bearing the brunt of workforce reductions following the bank’s acquisition by UBS, according to data released on pension fund membership.
While both UBS and the former Credit Suisse continue to operate separate pension schemes – with a planned consolidation not expected before 2027 – a review of membership numbers reveals a significantly higher rate of departures from the Credit Suisse plan.
In 2024, the first full year Credit Suisse operated as part of UBS, the number of active members in the Credit Suisse pension fund decreased by 2,000, falling from 15,700 to 13,700. This represents a decline of approximately 13 percent.
Conversely, the UBS pension fund saw 1,500 terminations and 300 retirements, for a total of 1,800 departures, from a base of roughly 21,000 active members – a rate of about 8 percent. New entrants to the UBS pension fund totaled 2,700, and the data does not differentiate between former Credit Suisse and UBS employees.
The figures cover the period after June 2023, when, three months after the effective collapse of Credit Suisse, only UBS formally existed as a banking entity.
The disparity in departure rates underscores that assurances of equal treatment following the merger were not fully realized, a point that analysts say likely comes as no surprise to those familiar with large-scale bank integrations. The UBS acquisition of Credit Suisse, completed in 2023, aimed to stabilize the Swiss banking sector following a period of turmoil, but has inevitably led to significant restructuring and job losses.
“CS out, UBS in,” as the numbers clearly demonstrate.
