UBS to cut jobs in Asian investment banking business

UBS Group is cutting nearly two dozen jobs in its Asian investment banking business, mainly in Hong Kong and Singapore, as part of a push to slash costs, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, as Reuters reported.

UBS in Hong Kong declined to comment to the newswire. The cuts are likely to hit mid-level staff hardest, but will also include several bankers at the rank of Managing Director.
Reuters reported last month that Standard Chartered is set to cut about a tenth of its global corporate and institutional banking headcount across all the major business centres starting with Singapore and Hong Kong, as the bank steps up an aggressive drive to cut costs.

In October, UBS, which is Asia's largest private bank in terms of assets under management, maintained its gloomy outlook amid negative interest rates in Switzerland and economic uncertainty which has kept many investors on the sidelines.