Speculation among UBS employees is that the bank could cut more than 10 per cent of its global workforce of 83,000, but people close to the matter said it would be less than 10 per cent.

They said the job losses would likely be announced on Tuesday along with the bank's first-quarter results.

'We will give an update in early May,' a spokesman for the bank said on Thursday, declining to comment further or give details on the scale of job losses.

The bank may cut up to 2,200 jobs across much of its investment banking and trading division, people familiar with the situation said last month. That would represent 10 per cent of the investment bank's 22,000 employees.

UBS Chief Executive Marcel Rohner said last month staffing levels in the investment bank would continue to be adjusted in line with market developments but said estimates the division could cut 3,000 to 4,000 staff were too high.

UBS has suffered US$37 billion (S$50 billion) in writedowns on risky assets following the United States subprime housing crisis and subsequent credit crunch.

Cuts are likely to be focused on fixed-income businesses that generated most of the bank's losses, rather than areas like equities or wealth management, one of the sources said. -- REUTERS