Thirty-six people working for ING Investment Management will lose their jobs at the end of the month following the takeover by UBS Global Asset Management (Australia) Ltd., say two people familiar with the matter.
The 36 people will leave ING Investment Management by September 30, say the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. UBS will formally take control of ING Investment Management on October 4. ING Investment currently employs 120 people.
“There are a lot of cost pressures in the UBS business,” says one of the sources, referring to the $2.3 billion trading loss suffered by the bank. “The drive is to increase scale without increasing costs.”
UBS declined to comment. Ben Heap, head of UBS Global Asset Management (Australia) Ltd., said in July it was unlikely that all ING Investment staff would join UBS but that retaining key personnel was “critical”.
UBS purchased ING Investment because of its relationship with Australian individual investors – a market the Zurich-based UBS is yet to crack.
ING Investment manages about $34 billion, of which about $29 billion is sourced from ANZ, mostly from individual investors.
Some in the ING investment team are weighing whether to start their own business, says one of the sources. UBS insists that the investment team will stay at the integrated firm with the ING Investment team managing money for its existing clients and UBS Asset Management managing money for its existing customers.
By the first quarter next year the two investment teams will be integrated, says a source.
UBS has 90 investment management staff in Australia and New Zealand. The ING Investment Management takeover will bolster its funds under management to about $57 billion.
