Oct
30

Swiss bank UBS cuts 10,000 jobs

affiliate marketing 30 October 2012 Last updated at 09:38 ET affiliate marketing Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play....

UBS Chief executive Sergio Ermotti: “The whole bank must become more efficient”



Swiss bank UBS has announced it is cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide as it tries to cut costs and slims down its investment banking activities.


The jobs will go over the next three years, and amount to 16% of its current workforce of 64,000, the bank said.


The bank would not comment on where the jobs would go.


But a source confirmed that 100 traders in London were sent home after being told that the part of the business they worked for was ceasing operations.


It is understood that they were met at reception by staff from HR who told them they were going to be made redundant.


They will receive full pay and benefits for the next three weeks in lieu of notice.


It is standard practice that bank employees are prevented from trading the moment they are informed that they are losing their jobs and are only able to collect any belongings under supervision.


UBS currently employs just over 6,600 staff in the UK.


‘Difficult decision’


UBS lost 39bn Swiss francs (£26bn; $ 42bn) during the financial crisis and had to be bailed out by the Swiss authorities. The cuts are aimed at saving 3.4bn Swiss francs.


UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti said: “This decision has been a difficult one, particularly in a business such as ours that is all about its people.


“Some reductions will result from natural attrition and we will take whatever measures we can to mitigate the overall effect.”


Zurich-based UBS will focus on its private bank and a smaller investment bank, ditching much of the riskier trading business which was responsible for the bulk of its losses.


In a joint letter to shareholders, chairman Axel Weber and chief executive Mr Ermotti said: “We will no longer operate to any significant extent in businesses where risk-adjusted returns cannot meet their cost of capital.”


UBS announced its restructuring plans as it reported its results for the third quarter of the year.


The bank reported a net loss of 2.17bn Swiss francs for the July to September period, compared with a profit of 1.02bn Swiss francs a year earlier. The loss was mainly due to an impairment charge of 3.1bn Swiss francs that UBS is taking to cover the cost of the changes to its investment bank.


UBS was one of the banks hardest hit during the global financial crisis.


BBC News – Business



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Oct
29

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European fashion buyers look to Nigeria

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Consumer spending rises, but saving slows

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Oct
28

Lithuania opens 2nd round of national election

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Paul Ceglia’s Quest to Own Half of Facebook Ends in an Arrest for Fraud

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Reports: UK police arrest Gary Glitter

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Facebook More Irresistible Than Sex?

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China halts project amid protests

affiliate marketing 28 October 2012 Last updated at 11:02 ET affiliate marketing Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play....

Demonstrators were thought to be calling for the release of people arrested during a protest on Saturday



Plans to expand a petrochemical plant in eastern China have been shelved after days of protests.


On Friday, crowds opposed to the expansion attacked police in the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province.


Officials from Ningbo’s city government announced on Sunday evening that work on the project would now not go ahead.


Environmental protests have become more common in China. They come ahead of a once-in-a-decade change of national leaders in Beijing.


Protesters gathered again in Ningbo on Sunday, marching on the offices of the district government. They are opposed to the expansion of the plant by a subsidiary of the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation.


“There is very little public confidence in the government,” protester Liu Li told the Associated Press.


“Who knows if they are saying this just to make us leave and then keep on doing the project,” she added.


Violent clashes


On Saturday, police dispersed more than 1,000 protesters in Ningbo.


Witnesses described scuffles and said a few people were arrested.


Local police accused protesters of throwing stones and bricks at officers. Residents, however, said the violence came after police used tear gas and made arrests.


Local officials met demonstrators later on Saturday to hear their demands.


The huge growth in China’s economy has come at a huge environmental cost.


Many Chinese are becoming more environmentally aware and are deeply concerned about pollution, correspondents say.


BBC News – Business



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