UBS AG, Switzerland's biggest bank, estimates that it will report a loss attributable to shareholders of almost CHF 2 billion in first quarter 2009.
UBS seeks to realize substantial cost savings in all areas and expects to reduce its number of employees to 67,500 in 2010.
At the end of March 2009 UBS employed 76,200 people in over 50 countries. Some of these job cuts will be in Switzerland.
Job cuts, along with reductions in marketing, sponsorships and consulting costs, will help save UBS as much as 4 billion francs by the end of 2010.
UBS has fallen 11 per cent this year in Swiss trading, cutting the company's market value to 38.9 billion Swiss francs. That compares with a 2.1 per cent gain in the 65-member Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index.
Financial institutions worldwide announced almost 300,000 job cuts since the beginning of the credit crisis as writedowns and losses swelled to $1.3 trillion. Goldman Sachs Group.