Hyderabad: Global banking giant UBS, which just wrapped up the merger and integration of Credit Suisse, is planning to move around 1,000 tech job roles from Mumbai to Hyderabad by the end of 2025 as part of its plans to rationalise its overall India headcount, a top UBS India official told TOI.The Swiss bank currently has around 2,000 employees in Hyderabad, which it plans to grow to 3,500-4,000 over the next two to three years, Matthias Schacke, Head of India Services and Technology, UBS India, said. This includes the approximately 1,000 jobs that UBS is moving from Mumbai, where it currently has around 2,500 employees. Pune is currently UBS’s largest hub in India with around 10,000 employees, of which around half are tech-related roles.“We believe that from a technology perspective, it’s a fantastic proposition here (in Hyderabad). There are some more business-related functions that will probably remain in Mumbai, but I think we are fully in for Hyderabad,” he said.“We have around 2,000 people in Hyderabad, and now we’re building another 1,000-seater across the street. And there is even more demand in the pipeline, actually, so we’re not even finished, and we’re running out of space,” Schacke added.Speaking about the bank’s overall India plans, Schacke said UBS aims to stabilise its India headcount at around 20,000 by the end of 2026 from nearly 24,000 currently, as it focuses on increasing its permanent employee base. “We are actually rationalising the vendor footprint and prioritising our permanent footprint to bring it up to around 85%. That’s the idea. Currently, we are around 65-68%,” he said.“While automation, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies will take some of the lower-tier roles away, there will be more meaty roles coming at the same time. And that’s why I expect, with a lot of movements in and out, our footprint will be around 20,000,” he explained.Pointing out to the crucial role that India plays in UBS’s global operations, particularly in technology, he said 50% of the company’s global certified engineers are Indians, and India houses 40% of the company’s total tech footprint. In terms of the entire organisation, India houses around 18-20% of UBS’s total global headcount of around 1.3 lakh.Schacke said the Swiss bank is also investing heavily in building AI capabilities in India, where it already spends around $1 billion in operating costs each year. “As we have invested a lot in certifying our engineers, we are now looking into building and certifying AI capabilities here,” he said.Highlighting India’s strategic importance, Schacke said the recent Credit Suisse integration demonstrated India’s crucial role. “The whole cloud strategy integration, all the applications that come together from Credit Suisse and UBS, thousands of applications to be decommissioned, client migration — all these topics which are very crucial and critical for the bank, they would not have happened without India,” he emphasised.
