Swiss banking major Credit Suisse, which has posted an over 50 per cent decline in quarterly profit, is all set to axe about 2,000 jobs worldwide, as part of aggressive cost-cutting measures.

The Swiss group today said it would trim about 4 per cent of its global workforce while announcing a steep decline in profit at 768 million Swiss francs for three months ended June.

Credit Suisse is the latest to join a growing list of global entities, including Cisco, Research In Motion (RIM) and Nokia, that have announced layoffs amid tough business conditions.

In a statement today, Credit Suisse said it is aiming at cost savings of 1 billion Swiss francs.

“This programme includes targeted headcount reductions of approximately 4 per cent of total headcount across the group,” it said.

The initiatives will involve implementation costs of CHF 400 to 450 million for 2011, of which CHF 142 million were factored in June quarter.

Credit Suisse has around 50,700 employees worldwide and 4 per cent would account for about 2,000 people.

However, it could not be immediately confirmed whether job cuts would affect India operations where it has a presence.

In 2011 June quarter, the firm’s profit more than halved to CHF 768 million from CHF 1,593 million in year-ago period.

The entity’s investment banking operations saw net revenues tumble 31 per cent to CHF 2,822 million in the latest June quarter. The sluggish performance was due to difficult trading conditions, weaker client activity triggered by European sovereign debt concerns and deteriorating economic indicators.

“ ... private banking recorded solid results despite significant market headwinds and maintained its strength in gathering net new assets. However, our performance in investment banking was below our expectations,” the Credit Suisse CEO, Mr Brady W. Dougan, said.

In recent weeks, Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) announced 2,000 job cuts while Cisco unveiled plans to cut about 6,500 jobs.

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