UBS May Employ 30% Fewer Staff in 10 Years, Sergio Ermotti Says

(Bloomberg) -- UBS Group AG could employ around 30 percent fewer staff in a decade as technological advances change banking, Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti said in an interview with Bloomberg Markets.

“We see a lot of contraction in the number of people in our industry," he said. UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, could shrink by that measure, including contractors, “but the jobs are going to be much more interesting jobs, where the human content is crucial to the delivery of the service," he said.

Read more: Ermotti Says Nothing Ever Certain, Not Even UBS Staying Swiss

Ermotti was asked about his ambitions at UBS after six years in charge. While he didn't rule out taking over from Chairman Axel Weber one day, he's not expecting a change in their roles anytime soon.

He also commented on Nordea Bank AB's recent decision to relocate to Helsinki from Stockholm after the bank criticized the regulatory burden in its home market. “People should never take things for granted,” said Ermotti, who believes Swiss regulators have gone too far in some of their efforts to prevent another financial crisis.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Winters in Zurich at pwinters3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Elisa Martinuzzi