STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 30 October 2012

[Demeter]

7. UBS to slash 10,000 jobs in fixed income exit

I JUST CANNOT WRAP MY HEAD AROUND THE IDEA OF A BANK HAVING 10,000 EMPLOYEES, LET ALONE THAT BEING ONLY A FRACTION OF THE EMPLOYEES....I'M SO STUCK IN THE 50'S.

http://news.yahoo.com/ubs-slash-10-000-jobs-fixed-income-exit-054642079--sector.html

UBS unveiled plans to wind down its fixed income business and fire 10,000 bankers in one of the biggest bonfires of finance jobs since the implosion of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The move will focus the Zurich-based lender and wealth manager around its private bank and a smaller investment bank, ditching much of the trading business that saw it lose $50 billion in the financial crisis and one suspected rogue trader lose $2.3 billion last year.

Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti, a former Merrill Lynch banker who took over after the trading scandal, is spearheading the three-year investment banking overhaul that is aimed at saving 3.4 billion Swiss francs ($3.63 billion), on top of existing cuts of 2 billion francs. The Swiss bank will separate many fixed-income activities in order to wind down positions in businesses it will exit as they are no longer profitable due to far tougher capital rules on riskier business introduced after the crisis. Current investment bank co-head Carsten Kengeter will leave UBS's top management board to head the discontinued unit.

The remaining investment bank, comprised of equities, foreign exchange trading, corporate advice, and precious metals trading, will be run by Andrea Orcel, a recent Ermotti hire from Bank of America who currently co-runs the unit with Kengeter. "The net impact of all these changes will be transformational for the firm," chairman Axel Weber and Ermotti told shareholders in a letter. "Our overall earnings should be less volatile, more consistent and of higher quality."

The measures translate to a 15 percent staff cut, taking UBS's overall staff to 54,000, from 63,745 now.

Roughly 2,500 jobs will be cut in Switzerland, with the remainder mainly in London and the United States, where UBS runs considerable trading operations out of Stamford, Connecticut...

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