Credit Suisse and HSBC to axe jobs

By Lisa Jucca

ZURICH (Reuters) - European bank heavyweights Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) and HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L) are axing hundreds of jobs in Britain as the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression bites deeper.

Coming on the heels of JPMorgan Chase & Co's (JPM.N) 9,200-headcount-cull at the former Washington Mutual Inc on Monday, the cuts are the latest in a wave of job losses hitting both sides of the Atlantic in which more than 100,000 jobs have been axed at major global financial institutions since September.

Of these, more than 50,000 were at U.S. bank Citigroup (C.N), which has made more writedowns than any other bank in the world during the crisis.

Switzerland-based Credit Suisse said on Tuesday it was cutting 650 jobs in the United Kingdom, equivalent to roughly 3 percent of its investment banking workforce of about 21,300.

"Due to market conditions and projected staffing levels required to meet client needs, we are reducing headcount by approximately 650 in the United Kingdom," Credit Suisse spokesman Marc Dosch said.

"The cuts will be made mainly in investment banking," Dosch said.

The bank, which employed around 50,000 people globally at the end of September, has already slashed 1,800 jobs this year, nearly all at its investment banking division.

"Investment banking is dead," was the laconic comment of a Swiss trader, who stressed how the segment continues to be hit the hardest by job cuts announcements.