UBS is falling behind its own plan to shrink its workforce to 85,000 by the end of the Credit Suisse integration in 2026, company filings and people familiar with the process have revealed.

Figures submitted to regulators show the Swiss lender employed just over 105,000 staff at the end of June, only 1,300 fewer than three months earlier and well above the target implied by its internal timetable. The bank has eliminated about 14,000 positions since swallowing its rival in a state-brokered rescue in March 2023, but the pace of cuts has slowed to an average of 1,300 roles per quarter this year.

UBS absorbed roughly 45,000 Credit Suisse employees overnight and initially warned that thousands of overlapping posts would disappear. Executives set a goal – never publicly disclosed but reported by the Financial Times – of trimming headcount to 85,000 once client migrations and system consolidations were complete.

The bank insists it is focusing on expenses rather than specific staffing numbers. “We are working towards cost targets, not headcount numbers,” UBS said in response to questions, adding it has already achieved 70 per cent of its aim to strip out $13 billion of costs by 2026.

Finance director Todd Tuckner told analysts last month that the remaining savings would be “split half-and-half” between technology spending and “people [and] capacity-related” reductions, suggesting lay-offs will continue, though not necessarily accelerate.

Several factors are hindering the effort. Staff attrition, traditionally about seven per cent a year, has dropped below historical norms, limiting natural departures. At the same time, UBS must keep many former Credit Suisse systems running until it finishes migrating more than one million domestic retail customers, a project scheduled to conclude in March 2026. A person briefed on the programme said cost cutting was “not a straight line”, as legacy platforms cannot be decommissioned until client transfers are secured.

To soften the impact, the bank is prioritising redeploying workers into vacant roles and offering early retirement where possible. Although hundreds of jobs have been cut in Switzerland this year, management maintains that compulsory redundancies will be minimised.

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