Credit Suisse to Cut About 85 Jobs in I-Banking

Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), the second- largest Swiss lender, cut about 85 jobs in its investment banking unit today, two people with knowledge of the talks said.

The reductions, in London and elsewhere, are part of the 2,000 the Zurich-based lender announced in July, said a third person, who declined to be identified because the details are private. A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment today.

The lender said this month it would eliminate a further 1,500 jobs after its investment banking unit posted its first quarterly loss since 2008 in the third quarter.

The European sovereign debt crisis and the global economic slowdown are crimping takeovers and stock offerings. Regulators also are forcing lenders to set aside more capital to activities such as fixed-income trading, making them less profitable. Financial firms have cut almost 200,000 positions so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ambereen Choudhury in London at achoudhury@bloomberg.net; Alexis Xydias in London at axydias@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net.