GENEVA (AP) — Troubled Swiss banking giant UBS AG said yesterday that it will slash its global work force of 76,200 people by more than 10 percent as part of across-the-board cost cutting to return to profit after racking up billion dollar losses for yet another quarter.

The 8,700 job cuts will hit the US and Switzerland particularly hard because that is where the bank has its largest payrolls, a bank spokesman said.

"Our results remain very unsatisfactory," new chief executive Oswald Gruebel told the annual shareholders meeting, adding that the bank will report a first-quarter loss attributable to shareholders of nearly 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.75 billion) when it releases results next month.

But the bank knows where it has to get to work, Gruebel said.

Clients have continued to withdraw their money from the bank following its decision to cooperate more closely with foreign authorities over tax evasion, the bank said.

The company, which has been hard-hit by losses on so-called sub-prime securities that are backed by home loans to people with shaky credit, said it will "adapt its size to the changed market conditions and lower levels of business". It said it expects cost savings of 3.5 to 4 billion francs by the end of 2010 compared to 2008 operations.

"It will be a long road back to success without any quick fixes," said Gruebel. "Rather, we will move forward step by step in a rigorous and disciplined manner."

Gruebel said the bank plans to cut 2,500 jobs in Switzerland, where more than one-third of the global staff is based.

Spokesman Serge Steiner gave no breakdown by country but said the impact on the US employees would also be heavy because that is another major centre of UBS operations. The bank says 38 percent of its employees are in the Western Hemisphere.

The areas to suffer the most cuts will be the so-called mid- and back offices — mostly support jobs without direct customer contact, said Steiner.

The bank is "compelled to drastically cut costs again, right away", said Gruebel. "We want to become profitable."

The current economic crisis will prevent a rapid recovery in revenue, so the bank has to use cost-cutting, he said.

"But you should not assume that this will being about a marked improvement in our results as early as the next few quarters," Gruebel added.

The job cuts come on top of a reduction of 1,600 since the end of last year.

The bank, which already has suffered tens of billions of dollars of losses over the past two years and received a bailout from the Swiss government, said the first-quarter shortfall is due mostly to losses of about 3.9 billion francs on previously disclosed bad investments, credit loss expenses and adjustment in values of toxic assets.

The company's share price closed down 6.86 percent at 12.36 francs ($10.87) on the Zurich exchange.

UBS said its wealth management and Swiss bank division recorded an outflow of net new money totaling 23 billion francs. That occurred mainly after the announcement of a settlement with US authorities over their investigation into UBS's alleged assistance to wealthy Americans seeking to avoid paying US taxes.

At the same time it said its wealth management Americas unit recorded net new money of around 16 billion francs.

UBS has been in a showdown with Washington over wealthy American tax evaders. It has provided US investigators the bank details of up to 300 wealthy Americans suspected of tax fraud, but has refused to identify about 50,000 more US account holders Washington wants.

The Swiss bank has previously announced a $780 million fine and restitution package agreed with US authorities to settle the tax evasion investigation.

Analyst Alois Pirker of Aite Group said UBS's results are still overshadowed by write-downs and huge outflows of client assets, an apparent result of the settlement with the United States.

"UBS can only hope that its clients have not lost their trust in the firm for being a reliable partner for their wealth management concerns," Pirker said.

The bank said it still expects to have a Tier 1 capital ratio — a key measure of financial strength — of about 10 percent at the end of the first quarter, and that it would continue to reduce risks and was conducting a review to decide which high-risk and unpromising businesses it will exit.

Gruebel said rebuilding the trust of shareholders, clients and political institutions was "our most important task."

"We have to become dependable and reliable again and should you that we deserve your trust," he said.

Full first-quarter results and other details about the bank's plans will be released on May 5, it said.