UBS Group AG is cutting about 40 jobs in the Asia-Pacific region as part of a global push to trim costs and combine its trading units, a person familiar with the matter said.
The staff reductions are roughly split between UBS’ markets and investment-banking teams, with a majority at the level of vice president or below, the person said, asking not to be identified because the details were not public.
The Asian divisions — led by Hong Kong-based Taichi Takahashi and David Chin (金弘毅) — will see smaller cuts than those planned in Europe because UBS sees the region as a driver for growth, the person said.
UBS has embarked on a sweeping overhaul of its investment bank, reshuffling senior management and combining trading operations in changes that might ultimately eliminate hundreds of positions, people with knowledge of the plan have said.
Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG and HSBC Holdings PLC also are cutting staff to rein in costs as the industry deals with difficult trading conditions, sputtering economies and the impact of trade tensions on cross-border deals.
Mark Panday, a Hong Kong-based spokesman at UBS, declined to comment.
UBS is to announce its third-quarter results today.
While the company’s investment-banking fees fell in Europe and the US last year, they grew 28 percent in Asia, consulting firm Freeman & Co said.
The fees totaled US$388 million this year through the third quarter in Asia, ranking the region ahead of Europe and behind the US, Freeman & Co said.
As part of its global restructuring, Ros L’Esperance and Javier Oficialdegui are being put in charge of the newly named global banking division, which is to include public capital markets, private financing and mergers and acquisitions.
A combined global markets operation, including equities and foreign exchange, rates and credit, is to be run by Jason Barron and George Athanasopoulos.
Greg Peirce is to take over as global head of mergers and acquisitions, the first time that role will be based in Hong Kong, the person said.
The Asian staff reductions have already begun, with a fresh round expected later this month, they said.
The restructuring comes as UBS seeks to boost collaboration between dealmakers and its wealth-management unit, while sharpening a focus on industries most of interest to its richest clients.
The investment bank’s 10 percent return on equity in the first half of the year was roughly half that of UBS’ other divisions.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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