Europe's biggest casualty of the credit crisis said it lost nearly SFr20bn ($17bn) in 2008. It said it would axe another 1,500-2,000 investment banking jobs, taking employment to 15,000 – about one third less than the peak of almost 23,000 in the credit boom.
Variable compensation in cash for investment bankers will be 95 per cent down on the previous year, and 80 per cent lower across the group. In total, UBS's bonuses pool in cash will be slashed to SFr2.2bn.
The contraction follows severe cuts at Barclays and Deutsche Bank. But UBS, which has come under sustained political pressure after a government bail-out last October, said its cuts were bigger than any competitor.