UBS Trims U.S. Brokerage Staff

The U.S. brokerage unit of UBS is laying off nearly 200 employees, or 1.2% of its work force, including about 25 managing directors, a report says.
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NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- The U.S. brokerage unit of

UBS

(UBS) - Get Report

is laying off nearly 200 employees, or 1.2% of its work force, including about 25 managing directors, the

Wall Street Journal

reports, citing people familiar with the situation.

The job cuts come as UBS's new wealth-management chief in the U.S., Robert McCann, reorganizes to compete against larger rivals such as

Bank of America

(BAC) - Get Report

,

Morgan Stanley

(MS) - Get Report

and

Wells Fargo

(WFC) - Get Report

, the

Journal

says.

McCann is eliminating positions that worked at cross-purposes or were duplicative. Areas affected by the move include product marketing and development, people familiar with the strategy told the newspaper.

Most of the layoffs were announced in the last two days, with the rest made earlier this month. Jamie Price, who ran the brokerage force before McCann started in October, also recently left. Price was replaced by former

Merrill Lynch

executive Bob Mulholland.

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