• Switzerland edition

UBS shares leap on rumours of huge job cuts

Published: 29 Oct 2012 11:24 GMT+01:00 | Print version
Updated: 29 Oct 2012 11:24 GMT+01:00

Shares in Swiss banking giant UBS rose on Monday, following rumours at the weekend that it will announce thousands of job cuts when it posts its third-quarter results this week.

At 9.45am, UBS shares were being traded 5.07 percent higher at 12.85 Swiss francs, on an overall Swiss stock exchange down 0.19 percent.

The Zurich-based bank, headed by Swiss Sergio Ermotti, is reportedly preparing to announce as many as 10,000 layoffs and a severing of its investment bank when it presents its third-quarter results on Tuesday.

UBS has for years been trying to get its investment bank back on track after it was hit with disastrous results during the 2008 "subprime" crisis, and already announced 5,500 job cuts in the troubled unit last year.

The results to be unveiled on Tuesday are expected to be bleak, with analysts polled by the AWP financial agency expecting the bank's third quarter net profit to tick in 57 percent lower than a year ago at just 430 million francs ($458 million).

The investment bank is meanwhile expected to show dramatic improvement, with a predicted third-quarter net profit of 288 million francs compared to the whopping 2.1-billion net loss it posted a year ago.

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