Swiss bank UBS may announce plans to cut another 1,900 jobs in its investment banking, equities and fixed income units at its shareholder meeting tomorrow according to a Bloomberg report today.
The cuts would represent abut 10 per cent of the total investment banking staff, Bloomberg said, citing two people familiar with the matter. UBS has axed about 7,000 jobs since 2007, mostly investment banking and fixed income.
The job cuts would come on the heels of 1,100 job cuts at Britain's HSBC and on top of more than 80,000 job losses across the banking landscape in the past 18 months. UBS declined to comment on the report.
UBS may also detail possible new writedowns before the shareholder meeting but could try to present them as a turning point as they will be smaller than in previous quarters, analysts say. The bank did not issue any statement today.
Analysts expect on average the bank's new writedowns to be in the region of 3 billion Swiss francs ($2.69 billion) for the second quarter, something UBS could absorb given the current strength of its capital base.
UBS shares were up 3.7 per cent at 19.15 Swiss francs by 9.02am, compared to a 1 per cent firmer DJ Stoxx European banking index, as the sector gained on hopes a US bailout plan for Wall Street will be salvaged.
JP Morgan said on Wednesday it expects UBS to incur €2.7 billion ($3.81 billion) in pre-tax writedowns in the second half, less than its forecasts for its peers Lloyds TSB, Deutsche Bank and Barclays.
The extraordinary shareholder meeting tomorrow was called to elect four new members to the board.
UBS's new chairman Peter Kurer has promised better governance and slimmer bonuses after UBS was forced to write down $42 billion, more than any other bank in Europe, due to its large exposure to US toxic assets.
He will present the shareholders with plans announced in August to downsize the troubled investment banking business and separate it from its prized wealth management arm.
Agencies