UBS reportedly eyes job cuts, doesn't rule out splitting units

[Joanne98]

Source: Marketwatch

ZURICH (Dow Jones)--UBS 27.76, -2.53, -8.3%) is considering cutting as many as 8,000 jobs to save costs, and won't rule out a possible split of its wealth management and investment banking business, a Swiss newspaper reported Sunday.

Chief Executive Marcel Rohner reaffirmed at a recent meeting of 300 senior UBS bankers that the Swiss bank wants to keep its wealth management and investment banking operations under one roof, but he also said alternative scenarios always have to be considered, Swiss weekly Sonntagszeitung reported.

The newspaper didn't name its sources.
UBS confirmed that the meeting had taken place, but denied that concrete headcount figures were mentioned, or that a separation of the investment banking and wealth management businesses had been discussed.
It is true that UBS aims to improve its cost-to-income ratio and is taking measures to boost efficiency, spokesman Axel Langer said. Such measures can include job cuts, but there aren't any concrete headcount reduction targets, he added.

UBS is one of the worst-hit banks worldwide by the financial markets crisis that started with the demise of the market for risky home loans in the U.S. The Swiss bank has written down more than $18 billion on such assets last year, and analysts expect more to come.


Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ubs-reportedly-eyes-job-cuts/story.aspx?guid=%7B6CB8C556-52BD-405A-9A01-B4E1F3D082EB%7D

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Watch this one tommorrow!!!!!!

[Joanne98]

1. And this one...Will Lehman Brothers drop 93% to $2.75 a share on Monday?

With this evening's $2 a share deal for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) to acquire The Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE: BSC), we are now seeing what Wall Street is really worth. After Friday's close, for example, Bear Stearns traded for $30 -- but this evening's deal means it's really worth 93% less.

Does this mean that the next most vulnerable bank, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH), which ended last week at $39.26 is really worth $2.75 a share, a 93% discount to its current price? It probably does not make sense to apply exactly the same discount to Lehman Brothers. But, as I posted earlier, there is very little accurate, timely information for investors to use in order to assess whether Lehman is really worth $39.26.

After all, Bear Stearns indicated in its most recent report that its book value was $100 a share and it closed Friday trading at 30% of that value. By contrast, Lehman closed Friday at 98% of its book value of $40 a share. This is a much higher valuation -- suggesting that as of Friday's close, Lehman had yet to experience a run on the bank as did Bear. As long as Lehman customers are not worried about a Bear repeat, they may decide to keep their money right where it is.

But I am wondering whether any company or investor would want to take the chance of seeing whether their money might get tied up in a run on the bank.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/03/16/will-lehman-brothers-drop-93-to-2-75-a-share-on-monday/

[Lucky Luciano]

2. I am pretty sure that I am one that will not get the axe...

but this still sucks.