Dispatches from tax evasion HQ:
UBS US Wealth Management is laying off significant amounts of employees in the home office today and tomorrow. General estimates are around 300. I have already seen 5 of my friends in the group next to me leave (total group size of 15!) and its only 45 minutes since they began. Cuts are at all levels, mid-senior to analysts. Morale is extremely low.
Cuts are said to have gone down at the Swiss bank today. "Layoffs at UBS IBD, as if moral wasn't low enough at 299 Park. M&A, FIG, TMT affected."
Cuts are said to be coming in the near-ish future. "More layoffs are expected to take place within the next 2-3 weeks with at least 10pct cuts across the board in sales, research and trading. Morale has reached a new all-time low (hard to imagine it could become lower?) and at this point many have the attitude that if they get out now at least they'll get a package out of it."
UBS is said to be embarking on a "fresh round of cuts" in the investment bank, starting with the team in Europe. UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, plans to cut about 80 to 90 jobs in its European investment- banking division as part of a global revamp, according to two people familiar with the matter. The cutbacks, which are likely to take place before year- end, would amount to about 17 percent of staff within the region’s investment-banking division and include junior and senior bankers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The division includes merger advisory and equity and debt capital markets. The reductions probably will kick off a fresh round of job cuts within the broader investment bank, which includes UBS’s fixed-income and equities units, said the people. [Bloomberg]