UBS, Credit Suisse Could Shed 7,000 Staffers: Der Sonntag

UBS AG (NYSE: UBS), Switzerland's largest bank, and the Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: UBS), the country's second-largest bank, both may soon announce measures that would cut costs by slashing their head counts by as many as 5,000 and 2,000, respectively, according to a Der Sonntag account cited by Reuters.

At the close of the second quarter, UBS had about 63,520 employees and Credit Suisse had about 48,200 workers, based on their filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Neither of the Swiss banking behemoths commented on the Der Sonntag article, Reuters reported.

Cost-cutting is the order of the day not only at UBS and Credit Suisse in Switzerland but also at many other big banks around the world as their earnings are being squeezed by higher capital requirements and lower equity-trading volume, while global economic growth is moving from slow to slower.

The two Swiss banks are expected to issue their third-quarter earnings reports by the end of the month -- Credit Suisse on Thursday and UBS on Oct. 30 -- so any layoff announcements may be made around the same times.

Credit Suisse should report earnings per share fell to 48 cents in 3Q from 64 cents in the same period a year ago, and UBS should report EPS fell to 28 cents from 32 cents on the same basis, according to Thomson Financial Network estimates published by Yahoo Finance Sunday.