UBS London jobs under threat

by Gill Montia

Story link: UBS London jobs under threat

Swiss investment bank, UBS, has emerged as the biggest casualty of the sub-prime crisis so far, having written down £18.6 billion.

Yesterday’s news of a £9.6 billion writedown for the first-quarter of this year was accompanied by the resignation of the bank’s chairman, Marcel Ospel, and concerns that job losses will follow among its 9,000 staff based in London.

The bank, which made 1,500 staff redundant from its London offices last October, employs around 80,000 worldwide.

Marcel Rohner, UBS’s chief executive, has confirmed that there will be job cuts in its investment banking division, which will be repositioned “according to its strengths”.

Meanwhile, UBS will be shoring up its balance sheet with a £7.5 billion rights issue.

In response to the news, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for better co-operation between the world’s financial regulators and for the global banking sector to make early and full disclosure of losses.