Credit Suisse cuts 1,500 jobs, shrinks investment bank

ZURICH, Nov 1 (Reuters): Credit Suisse will cut another 1,500 jobs and scale back its capital-guzzling investment banking business as it seeks to meet tough new regulations ahead of other banks after the unit reported disappointing third-quarter results. The job losses come on top of 2,000 cuts announced by the Swiss bank in July out of a total of about 50,700. The cuts, which amount to 7 percent of its global workforce, should bring annual cost savings of 2 billion francs by 2013, the bank said on Tuesday. Banks are shedding jobs as strict capital rules aimed at shielding them from future financial crises and a tough third quarter for trading income take their toll on investment banking divisions in particular. Japan's Nomura Holdings, which posted its first quarterly loss in 2-12 years on Tuesday, also increased its cost cutting target. Credit Suisse Group AG shares traded 8.2 percent lower at 23.51 francs by 1139 GMT, compared with an 8.6 percent drop in European banks as a whole after Greece called a referendum on the eurozone bailout deal. Analyst Dirk Becker at brokerage Kepler said the results were worse than those of UBS and Deutsche Bank , although Credit Suisse still traded at one of the highest valuations among European banks. "We downgraded Credit Suisse in August after a string of disappointing results and amid still relatively high valuation. We confirm this view now," he said in a note. The cuts will further reverse Credit Suisse Chief Executive Brady Dougan's post-crisis hiring spree focused on fixed income, the area hit most by the market downturn this year.