UBS to shed 240 jobs in Singapore
UBS is poised to cut 240 jobs across the Asia-Pacific - or nearly 3 per cent of its workforce in the region - as part of a global cost-cutting exercise.
Banking sources say that the exercise will see around 100 out of its 2,300 Singapore employees laid off, while Hong Kong staff will also be badly hit.
Sources say that the job cuts will be across all business lines and staff levels, including the key private banking group, but departments such as marketing and other support functions will be hardest hit.
UBS is not the only major foreign bank to shed private banking staff in Asia. Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup have recently been doing likewise.
A UBS spokesman reiterated yesterday that the Asia-Pacific remained a strategic priority for the group, and a region in which it will continue to invest.
‘In common with its competitors, the slowdown in the global economy and the ongoing challenging economic conditions have prompted a renewed focus on the management of costs including, as a last resort, those related to staff,’ he said.
Singapore is a key office for UBS. Together with Hong Kong, it is a primary booking centre - where customers open accounts - for UBS in the Asia-Pacific region. UBS had expanded very quickly in recent years in Singapore, growing to 2,300 staff today.
The bank is said to be assisting staff with potential internal redeployment, and giving them access to counselling and outplacement advice.
Source: Sandbox Advisors, Straits Times
