ZURICH: UBS Group AG started a sweeping round of job cuts at its global wealth management unit in Europe and Asia, targeting dismissals across the board as new co-head Iqbal Khan seeks to make his mark on the business.
While UBS hasn’t communicated the extent of the cuts, people familiar with the matter have said it will likely affect about 500 employees. Khan pursued a regional strategy when he ran the international wealth management unit at Credit Suisse, splitting his division into seven regions to boost local decision-making. Now he and Naratil are doing the same at UBS, some two years after the bank merged its Americas and global wealth units into a single business.
Khan is also working on other changes at the wealth management unit, saying UBS could score “quick wins” by increasing lending, a strategy he also used at Credit Suisse. The bank is targeting US$20 billion to US$30 billion in net new loans per year.