According to a recent Bloomberg report bankers from the defunct Credit Suisse Group AG are currently flooding headhunters and employment agencies with resumes in preparation for the bank’s takeover by UBS.
“Anxious Credit Suisse staff” have created a flood of calls as they look for new jobs the reportsays with one firm in Singapore claiming it took in questions from 30 private bankers from Credit Suisse on just one Monday.
Another firm focused just on managing director hires said it has received similar interest since last Friday.
A job search firm received calls from bankers in the equities division where there is the most overlap with the new parent company UBS all last week. The bank has about 5 500 employees in London.
But UBS doesn’t seem keen to that plan according to a second report:
UBS executives have told their Credit Suisse counterparts that they prefer selectively bolstering their own investment bank while dumping the riskier operations the people said asking for anonymity because the review has just begun and no final decisions have been made. In initial talks the acquiring bank indicated little interest in continuing the planned effort for a CS First Boston carveout that would create a new competitor the people said.
All this means Klein’s dream of leading a new investment bank under the revived CS First Boston brand looks increasingly unlikely. Still some Credit Suisse staff are holding out hope that Klein and banking chief David Miller can line up an alternative plan the people said. Some executives have reached out to potential suitors for the investment bank including Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group Inc. to generate interest that they could then pitch to UBS the people said.
According to Michael Nelson managing director at the New York-based recruitment firm Quest Group the situation might turn out as follows:
“If they aren’t going to CSFB they will have to be emigrated into UBS fixed-income which is a much smaller business than Credit Suisse. My guess is they will dismiss them and turn them out onto the street.”
Current employees are extremely concerned about Credit Suisse’s “emergency rescue” at this time. Ironically there is a flood of job seekers at a time when most banks and companies in most other industries are laying off employees and closing branches.