Swiss investment bank UBS has axed 30 equities traders at its operations in the US in response to increased client demand for electronic trading.
According to a Reuters report, the job cuts represent around 10% of UBS's equities sales and trading staff and are in response to the reduction in broker commissions, due in part to clients' rapid take-up of eletronic trading.
UBS has now decided to emphasise technology over traditional brokers in a bid to counteract the spiralling decline in commissions.
Bank spokesman Kris Kagel told reporters that UBS regularly reviews cost structure and staffing levels and is committed to the cash equities business and will continue to invest in it.
The 30 jobs will be cut from the bank's trading hubs in Chicago and Connecticut.
Banks' revenues from equities trading have decreased as competition from online brokers such as Charles Schwab, E*Trade and Ameritrade force commissions lower.
In June US investment bank Goldman Sachs said it was shedding around 30 traders in response to declining margins and increased electronic trading of equities.
At the time Michael Ryan, Goldman's co-head of global equities, said about 50% of trades and trading decisions made by clients occur through computers and other automated, or algorithmic, strategies that bypass traders.