Swiss bank UBS to cut 5,500 jobs

GENEVA, Switzerland, May 6 (UPI) -- Swiss banking giant UBS announced Tuesday it would trim its workforce by 5,500 over the next year after reporting first-quarter losses of $10.9 billion.

The bank has lost $38 billion in write-downs since the subprime mortgage market began to collapse last summer, The New York Times reported Tuesday. In the first quarter of 2008, the bank was forced to write down $19 billion.

UBS Chief Executive Officer Marcel Rohner said the turnaround at the bank has already begun.

"We can see tangible effects as a result of our initial responses to the losses," Rohner said in a statement.

The bank said the job reductions would include 2,600 jobs in the investment banking unit, the Times reported.