(Bloomberg) -- UBS Group AG is set to cancel payment services for clients in Italy as it moves to phase out some of the businesses it took on when it bought rival Credit Suisse last year.
Switzerland’s biggest bank will discontinue credit cards, debit cards, and check books in Italy later this year, people familiar with the matter said. Credit Suisse used to offer those services in the country but UBS doesn’t want to keep the business, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private details.
Fewer than a thousand clients will be affected by the move, the people said. The plan was communicated to them in late June and early July, one of them said.
While the move could potentially frustrate some long-standing customers, it signals that UBS remains focused on shedding Credit Suisse business lines that it doesn’t see as a fit with its overall strategy. Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti is seeking to achieve $13 billion in cost savings by 2026.
The bank has already delivered much of what it set out to do when agreeing to buy the competitor early last year. That has included getting rid of assets, revamping leadership teams and starting to put the two firms’ IT systems together.
UBS has also been planning to shut smaller-value Credit Suisse accounts numbering in the low thousands at its Asia Pacific wealth management arm as it seeks to exit relationships with poor returns, Bloomberg reported earlier this year. Last year, it was planning to exit billions of dollars in loans to Credit Suisse’s clients in the Asia Pacific region, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
A representative for UBS declined to comment.
(Adds number of affected clients in third paragraph)
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