Wall Street's Ice and Fire: UBS is preparing to cut more than half of Credit Suisse's staff, while Citadel interns earn nearly $20,000 a month.

The employment situation on Wall Street is like a tale of two cities: on one hand, major banks are cutting jobs and bonuses on a large scale, with Credit Suisse, which acquired UBS three months ago, planning to cut more than half of UBS's 45,000 employees from next month. On the other hand, Wall Street is actively recruiting young top talent, offering high salaries to interns, with some companies offering monthly salaries of nearly $20,000 for intern positions.

Credit Suisse to cut more than half of UBS's employees

On Tuesday, June 27, media reports said that Credit Suisse Group plans to cut more than half of UBS's 45,000 employees from next month after taking over UBS.

Insiders said that investment bankers, traders and back-office support staff in London, New York and parts of Asia are expected to be the first to be affected by the layoffs, with almost all departments at risk.

Employees were told that three rounds of layoffs are expected this year, with the first round scheduled for the end of July and the other two in September and October.

After Credit Suisse Group's emergency acquisition of UBS three months ago, the widely speculated large-scale layoffs plan began to become clear. After the acquisition, Credit Suisse Group's total number of employees jumped to about 120,000, but Credit Suisse's goal is to save about $6 billion in personnel costs over the next few years.

Two insiders said Credit Suisse plans to eventually reduce its total workforce by about 30%, or 35,000 people.

After the news was released, Credit Suisse's US stocks rose by about 2%.

The large-scale layoffs at this Swiss bank will further worsen the already bleak global financial industry employment situation after investment banks on Wall Street, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, announced layoffs of thousands of people.

After the merger of the two banks, Credit Suisse executives took the lead, with only one remaining member of Credit Suisse Grp, Ulrich Koerner, serving as CEO of UBS. In the important wealth management department, only five of the more than 20 managers are from UBS.

Credit Suisse CEO Sergio Ermotti said at an event in Zurich on Tuesday that the integration is "going very smoothly."

Although Credit Suisse initially planned to retain the top 20% of employees, especially traders and investment bankers focused on technology, media and telecommunications, many of the best-performing employees have already left or been poached by other competitors. Credit Suisse also hopes to retain most of UBS's private banking staff, although many have already left. In addition, at least in the short term, the bank still needs to retain personnel responsible for managing structured loans and equity derivatives products related services provided by UBS to high net worth clients.

Wall Street offers high salaries to interns to attract top talent

In contrast to the frequent layoffs by Wall Street banks, the salaries of interns at these companies have been increasing. Despite the reduction in bonuses and continued layoffs by major banks this year, Wall Street has been very generous in attracting top young talent. While many ambitious college graduates are disappointed by the layoffs in the technology industry, some financial companies are paying higher wages to interns in an attempt to attract young people.

Levels.fyi conducted a study of financial job positions across the United States and found that the median salary of interns at 16 top companies has increased by 19%. The company said that hedge funds and proprietary trading platforms have even higher increases, with hourly wages soaring 29% YoY to $111, or pre-tax income of $4,400 for a 40-hour workweek.

At Citadel and Citadel Securities, the median salary of interns rose by about 25% to $120 per hour. If they work 40 hours a week, interns can earn a pre-tax income of $19,200 per month. The generous internship salaries have attracted the attention of young people, and the two companies have received nearly 70,000 internship applications before the summer of this year, an increase of more than 65% YoY.

Zaheer Mohiuddin, CEO of Levels.fyi, said that in an era where remote work has become a popular benefit, increasing salaries is also a way for financial companies to attract talent, despite the reintroduction of return-to-office policies.

Intern salaries may vary depending on position, education level, company type, and other factors. At Barclays, the annual salary for US summer investment banking interns is $110,000, while Citigroup's salary is $50 per hour. The median hourly wage for interns offered by Bank of America across the United States is $41, while those who are willing to move to New York for the summer can earn $46 per hour.

Interns in many core departments also receive other benefits, including signing bonuses, living allowances, and company housing, and their current treatment is even similar to that of full-time employees.