UBS may fire 8,000 people

The layoffs on Wall Street are not over. As a matter of fact, they may just be beginning. Many of the people at Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) are already gone. Citigroup (NYSE: C) says it will cut operating expense by 20%. Some of that has to be people.

UBS (NYSE: UBS) may now be looking at a plan to cut 8,000 people. A lot of that will come in the firm's banking division. According to Bloomberg, "The company will probably say it's eliminating between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs in its investment bank, more than 10 percent of the division, two people familiar with the matter said May 2."

UBS has been under some pressure to break itself into pieces to "unlock shareholder value." It is not quite clear how that would work, but management is against it.

The word from UBS is a particularly sad reminder of how the actions of a relatively few traders and executives who bet on mortgage-backed securities will cost tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people in the financial community around the world their jobs. Those who are to blame probably already have new employment. At least they can say they were "creative thinkers" when they go for job interviews.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.