Swiss bank UBS confirms it will cut more jobs

Swiss bank UBS AG will announce more job cuts in its investment banking division next month, a spokesman said Thursday, declining to specify a figure.

Andreas Kern said the measure was announced in an internal memo the bank sent to its employees Wednesday and that the number of jobs lost will be revealed on Feb. 10, when the bank publishes fourth quarter figures.

Swiss weekly Sonntag has reported that UBS plans to slash 5,000 positions through the end of the year. But UBS spokesman Serge Steiner told The AP on Sunday that the figure was "pure speculation."

UBS was among the European banks hardest-hit by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, and in October took advantage of a $60 billion bailout offer from the Swiss government allowing it to dispose of poorly performing assets.

The bank has already slashed 6,000 jobs in investment banking since the third quarter of 2007.

Shares in the company closed up 4.85 percent at 13.44 Swiss francs ($11.72) on the Zurich exchange, helped by a global rebound in banking stocks.

Source : AP
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