Raiffeisen CEO Gabriel Brenna has drawn sharp criticism from employees and the Swiss bank personnel union after announcing a cut of 180 positions at the second-largest bank in Switzerland, even as the group posted its second-highest half-year profit on record.
Raiffeisen's first-half net profit rose to 660 million Swiss francs, and its cost-income ratio improved to 56.8 percent, leaving 43 cents of every franc in revenue as pre-tax profit. Brenna, 52, told Blick the bank had become "too complex and cumbersome," a judgment he said warranted the restructuring. Up to 70 employees are expected to receive direct termination notices; the cuts are being applied across all departments rather than targeting specific units.
The central cooperative Raiffeisen Schweiz employs 2,300 people, most at the St. Gallen headquarters and at Kloten Airport. Including the 208 independent regional cooperatives, the group accounts for roughly 13,000 positions. The 180-job reduction represents less than 8 percent of central-office staff and 1.5 percent at the group level.
Michael von Felten, president of the Swiss bank personnel union, condemned the move in unusually forceful terms, calling it "bad style" and warning that the approach could become the prevailing culture at Raiffeisen, he told CH Media.
The episode echoes a 2019 announcement in which the central office planned to eliminate 200 positions; headcount subsequently rose again, a pattern observers expect to repeat. The cuts may also have been intended as a signal to the 208 regional cooperatives, which have long questioned the central office's cost trajectory.
Brenna's management overhaul has also drawn scrutiny. Helen Fricker, 58, a long-serving executive who served as the board's liaison to the regional banks, was removed from the management team. Her role has been filled by a former Credit Suisse banker and Boston Consulting Group consultant, leaving the board without a female member.
Brenna, an Italian-Swiss dual citizen, has spent 14 years in banking. He holds a physics degree and a doctorate from the ETH, joined McKinsey in 2004, and moved directly into the management board of Liechtensteinische Landesbank in 2012 without prior bank employment. He became LLB's chief executive five years ago.
Internally, Brenna has made visible changes at the St. Gallen headquarters, including breaking through a wall to expand his office. A spokesperson confirmed the renovation, citing the need for regular one-on-one meetings. In his first eight months, Brenna visited 80 regional cooperatives; one employee described the typical visit as 55 minutes of speaking and five minutes of listening, followed by a LinkedIn post within minutes of his departure.
A separate issue has raised conflict-of-interest questions. In February 2026, Brenna co-founded Pontara Capital, a real-estate company in which he is listed as a board member. Because Raiffeisen is among Switzerland's largest providers of property financing, the arrangement is considered sensitive. A Raiffeisen spokesperson said the group's conflict-of-interest rules apply and that Brenna's private real-estate investment had been disclosed to and approved by the bank.
