It was only last weekend that UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti hit out at employees 'in the organization acting irresponsibly or through narrow self-interest by contributing to such speculation (about job losses), which unfortunately gets reported even if it is untrue or ridiculous'. Well, that hasn't stopped the leaks.
Bloomberg reports that UBS is preparing another round of job cuts across its investment bank in Europe as Ermotti tries to overhaul the firm, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
UBS is considering cuts in equities and fixed income as it trims its merger advisory staff, bringing total reductions to about 400, or 10% of front-office employees in the region, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the review is private. The cuts are part of plans to pare back headcount globally, said one of the people.
In the meantime, Reuters reports that a former colleague of Kweku Adoboli denied on Wednesday that he knew the UBS alleged 'rogue trader' had been booking fictitious trades at the Swiss bank months before losses of $2.3bn came to light.
Rory Boulton, whose team provided trade support for Adoboli's Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) desk, also denied that an email reporting a booking problem to bosses was an attempt to 'cover his back' after it dawned on him huge losses could be incurred.
'I didn't know about any fictitious or dummy trades', Boulton said.
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