UBS will cut 5 500 jobs in one the biggest purges seen so far in the financial markets crisis, as the Swiss wealth-management titan slashes at the investment bank that plunged it into turmoil. UBS also said it has a preliminary deal with United States asset manager BlackRock to sell a -billion portfolio of subprime mortgages.
UBS AG doubled its writedowns from the subprime crisis, parted company with its chairperson and asked shareholders for more emergency capital on Tuesday in a second dramatic attempt to reverse its fortunes. The Swiss bank wrote down an additional -billion on United States real estate and related assets, causing a net loss of 12-billion Swiss francs.