It's tough enough being the CEO of UBS at the best of times, but it doesn't help when you are in the middle of a major restructuring, and some employees appear to have hotlines to the media and a string of job loss stories constantly hit the headlines as a result.
Reuters reported last week that there are said to be rifts among top UBS managers, who are hampering Group CEO Sergio Ermotti's efforts to make big cutbacks, especially in investment banking.
Over recent weeks there has been a lot of press speculation on job loss numbers, the latest last weekend, when the German media speculated that an additional 2,000 IT jobs could go and that, overall, the bank could cut up to 10,000 staff in its latest restructuring.
Upset over the recent rumor-mill, Ermotti sent an email to all UBS staff on Saturday, blasting 'people in the organization acting irresponsibly or through narrow self-interest by contributing to such speculation, which unfortunately gets reported even if it is untrue or ridiculous'.
Ermotti confirmed that 'we have not yet concluded the final review of all our businesses, nor have we made any final decisions'. He said that: 'Once relevant decisions have been taken and we are ready to take the next step, we will communicate with you and the public. I know this can be difficult but, in the meantime, I can only ask you not to let yourself be distracted from news and articles that you read in the press'.
In the meantime, the jury at the trial of UBS trader Kweku Adoboli heard Monday of the impact that his $2.3bn trading loss had on the firm, both in terms of headcount reductions and the 2011 investmetn banking pool.
But Reuters reports that Adoboli's lawyers pointed out in court on that UBS's losses in the financial crisis ($53.53bn) dwarfed the $2.3bn the bank lost over the so-called rogue trading scandal and caused even longer-lasting damage.
Finally, Reuters reports that UBS's communications chief Michael Willi has resigned to take up an undisclosed new position elsewhere. Tough job no doubt.
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