UBS will combine the back offices of its investment banking and wealth management arms on 1 July, a report says.

UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, intends to combine the back offices of its wealth management and investment banking divisions on 1 July, according to Handelszeitung, quoting an internal memo to staff and a spokesman for the bank.

Ulrich Hoffmann, currently head of operations in the wealth management unit, will lead the combined department, which will have 7,000 workers, the publication said.

It is undecided if the merger will lead to job cuts, the paper cited Kern as saying.

UBS told WealthBriefing it may elaborate on the specific details of any change in due course.

In recent months, UBS management has announced plans to accelerate the reduction in risk exposures by its investment bank as part of a move to put more emphasis on the wealth management side of the firm. Last year, UBS disclosed that an alleged rogue trader had caused at least  $2.3 billion in losses due to unauthorised trades.

A few weeks ago, UBS reported that its wealth management pre-tax profit was SFr803 million ($1.3 billion) in the first quarter of 2012 compared with SFr471 million in the previous quarter, and included a reduction in personnel expenses of SFr237 million related to changes to its Swiss pension plan. Adjusted for this item and restructuring charges, pre-tax profit increased by SFr110 million to SFr578 million. In the Americas business of UBS, meanwhile, the division achieved its highest reported quarterly pre-tax profit of $209 million in the first quarter of 2012 compared with $156 million in the prior quarter.