Union Bancaire Privee, the Zurich-based private bank, has confirmed that it is planning to cut 100 jobs.

Union Bancaire Privee, the Swiss private bank, has confirmed that it is planning to cut 100 jobs.

The job losses, which will mostly be Zurich-based, are concentrated at operational and support roles, a spokesperson confirmed to this publication.

The development is part of a restructuring stemming from the bank’s purchase of ABN Amro's Swiss private banking operation, announced last summer.

UBP had no further comments when contacted by this publication.

In January UBP reported a net profit of SFr176 million ($186 million) for 2011, including SFr22 million in integration costs stemming from the ABN AMRO acquisition. Its consolidated profit for the year was SFr198 million, 8 per cent lower than in 2010, while its assets under management stood at SFr72 billion at the end of December 2011, up from SFr65 billion a year earlier. The AuM rise was largely attributable to the ABN AMRO purchase, the bank said.

When reporting its financial results for 2011, UBP said that it had a Tier 1 capital ratio of 22.1 per cent, well above the 6 per cent that will be required under Basel III from 2015.

By contrast, the Swiss National Bank said last week that the two Swiss banking giants UBS and Credit Suisse should improve their "look-through" Basel III Common Equity Tier 1 ratios and decrease leverage by restricting dividends in the case of UBS or by taking "all action necessary" in the case of Credit Suisse.