UBS GroupAG imposed a partial hiring freeze at its wealth managementdivision, Bloomberg News reported July 11, citing "two people withknowledge of the matter."

The freeze, which aims to cut costs, applies only to supportfunction roles and excludes client advisers, as well as the group's U.S. andCanadian brokerage business, according to the report. Personnel costs amountedto nearly half of the CHF5.5 billion in full-year 2015 expenses within thebusiness, which employed 10,332 people as of March-end, Bloomberg noted.

UBS recorded first-quarter pretax profit from the unit ofCHF557 million, down from CHF951 million in the year-ago period.