Thousands more job losses at UBS

Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, is to wield the axe on another 8,700 jobs.

Oswald Gruebel, the chief executive appointed to restore the bank’s reputation, said the bank will become smaller and there will be cuts.

The jobs are set to go by next year in a major cost-cutting programme after the bank announced losses of SwFr2 billion (£1.2 billion) for the three months to the end of March.

Mr Gruebel came out of retirement to take up the post of chief executive, after spending almost 40 years with rival bank, Credit Suisse.

The Swiss bank has been one of the biggest casualties of the credit crunch due to its exposure to the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US.

The bad press continues for UBS, which is also at the centre of an investigation by US authorities involving alleged tax evasion by its clients.

At the end of last month, the bank had a workforce of 76,200 but plans to reduce headcount to 67,500 in 2010.

It is not yet known how many jobs will be lost in the UK, where it employs 7,000 people.

In the last 12 months alone, the bank has axed almost one-fifth of its workforce of 83,800 of a year ago.

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