UBS Set To Slash One-Sixth Of Workforce

Swiss banking giant UBS (NYSE:UBS) is set to cut 10,000 jobs, London's Financial Times reported Friday, in a move that would decimate the company's trading operations and its investment bank.

The leaked job slashing decision, which the newspaper said would be officially announced Tuesday, would lop off nearly one-sixth of UBS' global workforce, likely hitting the New York and London-based operations the hardest.

Thousands of jobs in the bank's back office would also be lost "over the next few years," the Financial Times said, citing "three people close to the situation."

UBS has been cutting positions since last year, in a reflection of a wider trend among European megabanks to reduce complexity and spin off capital-intensive business lines. But pressure to achieve payroll savings became more intense in 2011, after a rogue trader allegedly cost the institution a $2.3 billion loss.

The bank, which has an underperforming investment banking unit in comparison with its peers, had already announced last year it would cut 3,500 jobs.

The latest move is seen as a signature move by CEO Sergio Ermotti, brought in following the trading debacle.

“There were several options on the table but UBS has decided on the most radical one,” one person familiar with the plan told the Financial Times.

UBS's U.S. shares fell a penny to $13.23 in late Friday trading.