The latest bank to announce layoffs is Switzerland's UBS
following in the footsteps of Citigroup Inc., which made its employee reduction
plan last week. The two anticipate the layoffs will trim expenses.
According to Bloomberg, UBS eliminated 1,500 jobs at the end of 2007
and may cut an additional 2,500
more, or 11%. Certainly those layoffs will come from the investment
banking staff with UBS chief executive officer Marcel Rohner saying at
a shareholders meeting UBS will "no longer aim to offer everything to everyone in investment banking." Additionally, UBS chairman Peter Kurer said the bank was not for sale, but will cut costs in investment banking. UBS shares are down.
Meanwhile, Citigroup announced April 18 that it would cut
9,000 more jobs in the next 12 months. The cuts are in addition to
the 4,200 announced in January, bringing the
total number of layoffs to more than 30,000 since 2007. Additionally, Citigroup is shopping a private equity unit in Japan. - Gerald Magpily and Maria Woehr
See Bloomberg article
See TheDeal.com: CIT, Citi issuing equity
