Asian jobs will be chopped at UBS, but only an unfortunate few have their heads on the block.

UBS hasn’t revealed exact redundancy numbers for Hong Kong and Singapore, but spokesperson Mark Panday tells us the lay-offs won’t be more than 5% of the 2,500 and 2,300 staff who work in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively.

While that percentage puts about 240 jobs at risk across the two cities, Panday stresses that the actual figure is likely to be less. Even at the upper range, the Asian axings seem small in comparison, as the struggling Swiss bank slashes 5,500 staff globally.

“It’s safe to say that in Asia-Pacific we will have much lower redundancy levels than elsewhere, reflecting the fact that we have a long-term strategy of growing our business in the region,” Panday says.

Some UBS bankers aren’t sticking around to see whether this is true. Last week, Patrick Lee quit for Lehman Brothers, where he will head its Southeast Asian investment banking team, according to Reuters.

As UBS slumps in the US and Europe, the challenge will be whether it can keep top talent in Asia. “It remains to be seen how the problems on the global scene for banks like UBS and Soc Gen will affect their recruitment here this year, but it can’t be helping them,” says Tan Soo Jin, a director at search firm Amrop Hever.

If UBS does give you your marching orders in Asia, at least your job hunt won’t be as dire as your fellow victims elsewhere in the world. Firms including Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan are still hiring in the region. Nick Lambe, manager at headhunters Morgan McKinley, says the recruitment market is still healthy in Hong Kong, with investment managers, prime brokers, private bankers and compliance officers all in demand.