UBS 25-year Asia veteran departs ahead of new wave of job cuts

[HONG KONG] UBS Group’s Eric Lafon has left the Swiss lender after more than 25 years in one of the most senior departures at its Asia global markets division, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Lafon, the global co-head of distribution in Singapore, left late last year in a mutual agreement with the bank, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

A representative for UBS Asia declined to comment. Lafon did not respond to requests seeking comment.

UBS has been assessing its cost base with a focus on trimming administrative and non–revenue-generating positions, one of the sources said. Management has signalled internally that support and coordination functions are under scrutiny as the bank seeks to simplify its operating model and improve efficiency, the source added.

The Zurich-based firm is set to begin another set of job cuts in mid-January, according to sources familiar with the matter. That will be followed by another round later in 2026 as UBS switches off computer systems it acquired from Credit Suisse, according to sources familiar said last month.

Lafon had been part of UBS’s markets distribution business, focusing on coordinating sales coverage, connecting clients with traders and helping decide what ideas to present and how to set prices across products. He formerly ran teams that trade currencies, bonds, interest-rate products and credit instruments across Asia.

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The division also saw a senior departure last year in Japan. Naohiro Kuroda, the country’s global markets co-head, stepped down months after the veteran of structured investments touted his team’s expansion, sources familiar said in July.

UBS is entering the final year of its integration of Credit Suisse, which it bought in an emergency government-brokered deal in 2023. The merger swelled the workforce to just under 120,000 overnight. The number has since shrunk by around 15,000, less than half of an internal target of 35,000 as reported by Bloomberg. BLOOMBERG