UBS bank plans to cut up to 5,000 senior and management jobs

Switzerland's biggest bank UBS cutting 5,000 senior and management jobs in the next few weeks.
2,500 management positions could go in UBS's dominant and profitable wealth management division, which accounts for 50,000 of the bank's total 77,000 staff.

A UBS spokesman declined to comment on the report.

Last week UBS said it was restructuring its Swiss business structure into four regions from eight, and trimming its top management. But it said the changes did not mean any more job cuts than the 600-800 positions it already plans to cut in Switzerland as part of thousands of job losses globally.

In February UBS said after announcing a record loss it would cut 2,000 jobs to take staff to about 75,000 by the middle of this year.

UBS is struggling to rebuild its once powerful brand and focus on its core Swiss business after massive investments in risky U.S. assets forced it to make more writedowns than any other European bank and accept government backing.

Switzerland's largest bank, pay $780 million US clients to resolve criminal fraud charges against it.

UBS agrees on tax fraud settlement in US

The deal is to settle the claim that UBS helped wealthy American clients evade taxes. It could expose some UBS customers to US Internal Revenue Service scrutiny and law enforcement action.

Officials at the US Justice Department said UBS had entered what is known as a deferred prosecution agreement on charges of conspiring to defraud the US by impeding the IRS, the US tax collection agency.

They described it as one of the biggest settlements ever.
UBS shares drop 10 pct amid concern over US probe
Shares in UBS AG are down 10 percent amid concern about the impact of an ongoing tax evasion probe in the U.S.

The bank's share price fell to 11.50 Swiss francs in early trading on the Zurich exchange Friday.

Investors reacted to the news overnight that U.S. authorities want UBS to hand over the names of up to 52,000 American customers suspected of failing to declare all of their taxable assets.

On Wednesday, UBS announced it had reached an agreement to give up some 250 to 300 names to U.S. investigators in an unprecedented breach of Swiss banking privacy.
Swiss ready to pass UBS client
UBS is at the center of a high-profile U.S. investigation that alleges the Swiss bank helped rich Americans avoid paying taxes by hiding money away in undeclared Swiss bank accounts.