The newspaper report says the bank will conduct a review of its Swiss business and other reporting lines.

Credit Suisse, which like some of its international peers has cut jobs to curb costs and bolster profitability, is taking out a management layer in Switzerland, a move likely to be followed in other parts of its business empire, a newspaper report has said. 

The Zurich-listed bank's Swiss retail banking business has until recently involved three levels: ten regions, market areas and teams. The middle level has now been axed, with former managers having to leave the bank or being assigned a new role. In Credit Suisse's Swiss private clients business, there was once an average of 4.2 employees per line manager but the bank is now aiming for a ratio of 1:7. It wants to create a more powerful leadership structure, Serge Fehr, Head of Private Clients, is quoted by Neue Zürcher Zeitung as saying in a recent interview. 

Along with firms such as Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse faces headwinds of changing client demands, technology that can cut out the need for types of job and negative real interest rates in Switzerland that have hit margins, along with those of rivals such as UBS and Julius Baer.

"Credit Suisse will therefore not only conduct an analysis of its Swiss business but also of all reporting lines. The aim is also to streamline processes. Credit Suisse is not disclosing the total number of senior management positions that it is eliminating, the newspaper said.

This publication understands that the NZZ article is not pointing to anything particularly new at Credit Suisse. The bank is due to issue full-year results for 2017 on 14 February.