Credit Suisse Asset Management executives said Wednesday that their U.S. will shrink. The company's Zurich, Switzerland-based parent, announced its intention to conduct "the realignment of the Asset Management operation in the US."

That move translates into the elimination of 300 of the company's 750 total U.S. asset management positions, according to a spokesperson. The cuts will take place over the course of the next few months.

"We're putting our asset management business on a sound and sustainable platform," Suzanne Fleming told the MutualFundWire, adding that the move in no way indicates an abandonment of the market. "We are committed to the U.S."

An industry recruiter offered a different perspective on the cuts.

"It sounds like their numbers were real bad," Dawn Dzurilla, managing director of Dzurilla International, told the MutualFundWire. "They're having difficulty competing in this shaky market, so they're aiming for a lower cost-basis."

That would mesh well with Credit Suisse's quarter two results. According to the company's earnings release, profits on the asset management side are down 92 percent when compared to June of last year, while operating costs are up 53 percent.

The positions being eliminated are strictly in the traditional equities and fixed income divisions; alternative investments, commodities, funds of hedge funds, high yield, municipal and tax advantage, private equity, quantitative and enhanced strategy, real estate, U.S. cash and short duration, and volatility management will be unaffected by the layoffs. 

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