Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, said today it would reorientate its domestic services towards digital banking, with a quarter of its Swiss branches to close and hundreds of jobs at risk.
“In the last two years alone, use of online banking at Credit Suisse has grown by approximately 40 per cent, while the use of mobile banking has more than doubled,” the bank said in a statement.
“The Covid-19 crisis has further accelerated these trends. In contrast, the number of visits to branches has been declining for years.
“Credit Suisse will introduce a new digital offering and a future-oriented branch concept at the end of October.”
The bank also plans to merge the activities of regional subsidiary Neue Aargauer Bank with those under the Credit Suisse brand to avoid duplication.
It plans to cut the number of bank branches from 146 to 109.
Meanwhile up to 500 jobs could be axed, Andre Helfenstein, head of the bank’s operations within Switzerland, told reporters during a conference call.
The restructuring costs are expected to be 75 million Swiss francs.
“Digitalisation is happening all around us,” Helfenstein said in a statement.
“The changes we are making to our branch network — while simultaneously investing in digital solutions and in advisory services for clients with more complex needs — represent a logical step forward.”
In late July, the bank’s new chief executive Thomas Gottstein unveiled his plans for Credit Suisse, which involved regrouping its different investment bank activities.
Gottstein took charge in February after Tidjane Thiam was ousted over a massive spying scandal. — AFP
