Swiss bank giant UBS AG is downsizing its Toronto office and laying off 20 employees — including the CEO of its Canadian operations, Rick Meslin, and chief Canadian economist George Vasic.

The remaining jobs are middle to senior positions in the investment firm’s equities research and cash sales and trading divisions.

The work will be absorbed by employees in its New York office.

UBS spokeswoman Karine Byrne says the downsizing is part of the company’s initiative to be “more focused and more efficient” by putting together an integrated North American team in charge of equities.

“These changes will allow us to continue to focus and meet the needs of our Canadian clients and concentrate our efforts in the areas that are most relevant to them,” she said from New York.

Last October, UBS announced it planned on slashing about 15 per cent of its workforce worldwide — some 10,000 employees — by 2015. The massive layoffs come at a time when the bank is trying to figure out how to boost profitability.

In the three-month period through September 2012, the bank posted a net loss of US$2.31 billion compared with a profit of US$1.13 billion in the same period a year earlier.

UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, is a global financial firm that offers wealth management, investment banking and asset managing services with offices in more than 50 countries.

In Canada, the bank has more than 250 employees working in Calgary, Montreal and Toronto.