UBS bankers want a voluntary redundancy program as revenues plummet
Investment bankers at UBS didn't have a great 2024. Unfortunately, they don't seem to having a great 2025 either.
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Figures from information provider Dealogic suggest that investment banking fees earned by UBS in EMEA have fallen 23% in year-to-date 2025 versus the same period of 2024. At Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, they're up 5% and 6% respectively over the same period.
UBS's investment banking performance wouldn't look great in any circumstance, but it looks even worse in the context of the Credit Suisse acquisition, which reportedly resulted in the addition of 200 "senior dealmakers." The new bankers don't appear to have made much difference, yet.
UBS's poor banking performance comes as investment banking activity falters in the wake of Trump's tariffs. Even before the tariffs were imposed, Dealogic says investment banking fee revenues fell 3% year-on-year globally in the first quarter, with the biggest drops in Europe and Latin America (-15% and -21% respectively), and increases in North America and South East Asia (up 2% and 12%).
Job cuts are likely to ensue. UBS isn't commenting, but as we reported first last week, the Swiss bank is planning a new round of cuts later this month. Insiders at UBS, told Bloomberg that lists are already being drawn up of whom to let go. Insiders tells us they're based on recent performance appraisals, in which people were marked down unusually harshly. There are claims that ex-Credit Suisse people seemed to come off worse.
As revenues stagnate, though, the hope is that some UBS people will simply walk away. "The ideal is for people to leave of their own accords," says one insider, adding that "a deliberately uncomfortable work environment," is one way of prompting this.
Another option is to offer voluntary redundancy payments, which some at UBS say would be perfect now. "A lot of people have lost their motivation," says one insider at the bank, who complains of a "bad vibe." He says he would accept voluntary redundancy if it were offered: "I'd like to leave soon, as these kinds of cuts isn't what I signed up for."
Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash
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