UBS latest bank to announce NJ job cuts as finance sector shrinks

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Swiss bank UBS is laying off 51 employees at its Weehawken office, public records show, as New Jersey’s banking and finance sectors more broadly grapple with tightening budgets amid uncertain economic times. 

UBS is reportedly looking to trim its costs by $13 billion, which includes cutting one in every 12 employees, according to Reuters. A spokesperson for UBS declined to comment for this story. 

Data from state filings showed that five financial institutions announced New Jersey layoffs so far in 2024: The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, TD Bank, Prudential Financial, Citibank and JPMorgan Chase Bank. 

Some of those banks — including Citibank and Charles Schwab — are cutting their head counts by the thousands or tens of thousands across their entire operations.

Nationwide, Charles Schwab is cutting 2,000 employees and Citibank 20,000 of its staff. 

“Banks are reducing back-office costs, and this includes people and head count reductions, unfortunately,” said Christopher Marinac, director of research at Janney Montgomery Scott, a financial services firm. “Overall, bank earnings are stable and generally not growing. Further, bank balance sheets are not expanding much this year.” 

One factor — the Federal Reserve, which has raised interest rates 11 times since the COVID-19 pandemic. That pushed mortgage rates higher for homebuyers, meaning fewer people obtained mortgages, prompting Wall Street to respond with layoffs, said a report by CNBC. 

That resulted in the state’s first job losses in half a year, unemployment figures show.  

“Banks are being careful on new lending and trying to retain more capital as the Federal Reserve is tightening standards and raising capital requirements soon,” Marinac said. 

James Hughes, an economist at Rutgers University, told NorthJersey.com that white-collar jobs in banking and finance have become saturated after a two-year hiring spree that followed the COVID-19 pandemic.

Layoffs this year

New Jersey companies are letting go of more than 4,600 employees in 2024, public records show. 

The layoffs include 2,774 job cuts announced in 2023 for this year, and another 1,847 cuts announced in the first three months of 2024. 

Those cuts come at a time when New Jersey’s workforce posted a net loss in jobs for the first time in six months. Meanwhile, the state unemployment rate has hovered at 4.8% since September, state data shows.

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record. 

Email: munozd@northjersey.com; Twitter:@danielmunoz100 and Facebook