Switzerland’s largest bank reduced some overlapping roles in the past months and further cuts are expected through November, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the plans are private.
UBS is battling muted client sentiment and activity levels in Asia-Pacific, where the regional business hub of Hong Kong has long been a booking center along with Singapore for China’s ultra-wealthy. The wealth management unit’s profit before tax in the region fell by 9% in the second quarter from a year earlier.The world’s second-largest economy expanded 3% last year, one of its slowest rates of growth in decades as pandemic controls and a property crisis battered the country.
Asia had been earmarked as one of the regions to be spared deep cuts in a bet on the region’s lucrative clients, Bloomberg previously reported. UBS had about 850 private bankers in the region at year-end, while Credit Suisse had 580, according to data from Asian Private Banker.