UBS ‘to axe thousands more jobs’
Swiss bank UBS, stung by a $2bn loss from rogue trading, is to scale back its investment bank, cutting thousands more jobs, it was reported today.
Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, citing UBS insiders, said the bank would announce the major restructuring at a planned investor day on 17 November. A UBS spokesman declined to comment.
The $2bn that UBS said a London-based trader had lost it in rogue dealing, compared with the annual 2 billion Swiss franc ($2.3bn) saving it hoped to make in cuts detailed last month involving 3,500 jobs.
Chief executive Oswald Gruebel has said he was reviewing the size and structure of the investment bank, particularly its fixed income division, after he was forced to pull back from aggressive medium-term profit targets.
In another blow the three leading credit agencies said they were reviewing the bank’s current rating for a possible downgrade.
Standard & Poor’s said it had put the bank’s long-term rating on watch with “negative implications.”