UBS wants to reorganise its asset management activity in Europe, the Middle East and Africa into three distinct business units. Up to 500 jobs could be lost.
The three areas involved in the reorganisation are Europe, central and eastern Europe as well as the Middle East and Africa.
UBS expects to double its customer base in the two latter areas. The changeover will come about in 2020.
During a telephone conference with journalists, the former celebrity banker at Credit Suisse, Iqbal Khan, explained that a maximum of 2% of employees or as many as 500 jobs could be axed, with a fluctuation of 7% to 8% in this figure over any given year.
The bank justifies the changes by a desire to speed up its decision making and time-to-market by increasing the business units' autonomy, so more time can be spent attending to clients.
UBS intends to inform employees at its Zurich head office "in the coming days and weeks."
At 10.08 am, UBS shares at the Swiss stock exchange’s had gained 2.3% rising to 12.57 francs, up by 0.61%.
The Brussels Times
