Swiss banking giant UBS AG has slashed about 200 jobs in its U.S. brokerage unit, a source told Reuters.

The job losses account for nearly 1.2 percent of the brokerage unit's 16,295 employees.

A bulk of the job cuts were announced in the past two days, according to the Wall Street Journal.

UBS declined comment to Reuters.

In the past year, hundreds of brokers have left the bank, taking clients and assets with them.

In the third quarter, the most recent data available, U.S. brokerage clients withdrew nearly $10 billion in assets.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Anshuman Daga)

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