Credit Suisse to cut jobs at wealth management team in India

Credit Suisse, the second largest bank in Switzerland, is cutting about a third of its wealth managers in India, in line with other global banks that have reduced headcounts amid tough market conditions.

Puneet Matta, head of the wealth management team and 13 others of the nearly 40 employees in the team, had been asked to leave the company on Thursday morning, The Economic Times today reported, citing three people familiar with the move.

"This retrenchment has not been initiated on account of any event. The decision comes from the headquarters and is driven largely based on performance appraisals,'' a person who knew the reasons behind the decision told the paper.

The Zurich-based bank had last month said that it would cut about 2,000 jobs globally or 4 per cent of its 50,700 workforce by the end of 2012, after Q2 profit fell 52 per cent on lower earnings from weak trading conditions and a strong Swiss currency.

Like other global financial institutions, Credit Suisse had gone on a hiring spree after the global financial crisis in order to garner market share on the hired aggressively in the aftermath of the financial crisis on the mistaken optimism that Europe and the economies of the US and Europe will bounce back leading to a recovery of banks.

The bank described as ''challenging'' market conditions in reporting a pre-tax profit of SFr843 million, down 4 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2010 in its wealth management division.