Swiss bank UBS to cut 3,500 jobs worldwide

UBS has announced it is cutting 3,500 jobs in an attempt to reduce costs by £1.5bn. The news comes after the Swiss bank announced its profits for the second quarter had halved to £769m.

UBS employs 7,000 people in its European HQ in the City of London. The cuts will be shared among the 65,000 staff employed around the world, with 45 per cent coming from the investment bank.

The bank said the cuts would improve "operating efficiency" and promised to continue to invest in growth areas.

Dirk Becker, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets, said the measures were an admission that UBS had overhired staff after it nearly collapsed in 2009: "With more difficult markets, the economics of its investment bank became so uncompelling that the group now has to retreat."

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