UBS Slashes Equity Sales Jobs

Swiss banking giant UBS (UBS Quote) is beginning to make the job cuts it announced after posting a big loss and writedown reported earlier this week, sources in its Stamford, Conn., office say.

As many as 400 institutional equity salespeople and a handful in the structured insurance products team were fired this week, the sources say. The bloodbath comes as UBS has struggled under mountains of bad investments and reported a first-quarter net loss of $10.9 billion and a $19.5 billion writedown.

UBS said earlier this week that it would slash up to 5,500 jobs in the coming months, including some 2,600 in the investment banking unit. A spokeswoman declined to comment on cuts in specific locations Friday. ...