UBS is set to axe around 2,000 jobs in information technology as part of a larger cost-cutting programme, a Swiss newspaper said on Saturday, citing sources close to the bank. The job cuts, which are still being hammered out, would come alongside an undisclosed number of further job cuts from UBS business units, Tages-Anzeiger reported.
UBS's main business arms are a flagship private bank for the wealthy and an investment bank. According to Tages-Anzeiger, IT staffers fear that UBS could ultimately shed as many as 20 per cent of overall jobs, which would translate to cuts of more than 12,000 people in total.
A spokesman for UBS on Saturday declined to comment on potential job cuts in IT or elsewhere.
UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti is struggling to unite his 12-person top management board behind cuts he says are necessary to improve profitability and hit targets, Reuters reported this week.
Although his managers agree on the need for cuts, infighting has emerged over details such as how to centralize work, which would crimp the division heads' responsibility.
UBS has already pledged to cut 3,500 jobs as part of earlier cost cuts, but this is seen as too little by most analysts given a dramatic slowdown in investment banking business and tighter capital rules governing riskier business.
Some analysts expect UBS to disclose further restructuring steps as soon as its third-quarter earnings release on October 30.
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