The Swiss-bank major, UBS joins its Asian rivals to initiate cost cuts at its Investment banking business considering deal volumes continue to remain sluggish. The bank plans to downsize staff and cut nearly two dozen jobs at its investment banking division in Hong Kong and Singapore.

This latest round of job cuts at UBS will include mid-level staff and also few managing directors, said sources with knowledge of the matter who declined to be named owing to sensitivity of the issue. With the region’s economies failing to deliver sustained profits and business growth, after the global economic downturn, the Wall Street Banks are still coping with economic headwinds and grappling with harsh environment in Asia.

The banks’s business has been eroded by competition, particularly aggressive Chinese firms. UBS is said to have about 550 investment bankers in Asia including China, The New Paper reports.

Barclays, Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered are among Western banks that have reduced their investment banking headcount this year in Asia. Last month, Reuters reported Standard Chartered is set to cut about a tenth of its global corporate and institutional banking headcount across all major business centres starting with Singapore and Hong Kong.

Asian equity markets have slumped in the first nine months of this year, and Asia has fallen to fourth place from second in equity capital market activity.

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