10,000 people at banking giant UBS may lose their jobs by 2015

31 October, 2012

As many as 10,000 people working in Swiss banking giant UBS, at its branches across the world, may loose their jobs by 2015. The bank has announced the job cuts due to the losses it suffered during the third quarter because of the restructuring of its ailing investment bank. This is being seen as the latest blow to the Swiss banking sector.

THE BANK has said that it would slash its human resource from the current 63,745 to 54,000 by the year 2015. The bank has said that the restructuring also carried a steep price tag, as it blamed charges generated by the operation for a 2.2 billion Swiss franc or $2.3-billion net loss in the third quarter. During the same period last year the bank has posted one billion franc profit.

The group CEO of UBS Sergio Ermotti said that announcing a lay-off was a tough call according to AFP. "This decision has been a difficult one, particularly in a business such as ours that is all about its people," said Sergio Ermotti.

Ermotti said that the latest lay-offs could happen in London and New York with around 2,500 lay-offs in Switzerland as well. The bank had announced a job cut of 5, 500 last year. UBS has emphasized that the latest round of job cuts are the necessary part of the ongoing restructuring of its investment bank. Notably the investment bank of the UBS has been struggling for the revival since a long time but was not successful in doing so.

Over the lay-off decision of the UBS, the Swiss banking union has said that the bank should retrain the affected employees in order to protect them fro loosing their jobs. The Swiss Socialist Party has criticized banks decision.

International banking regulations have tightened the noose around the Swiss banks including UBS, due to the country's cherished bank secrecy laws.