Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Dermot Murphy, a London-based managing director and co-head of European non-investment grade credit trading at UBS AG, has left the bank, according to four people with knowledge of the departure.

Murphy was hired from Credit Suisse Group AG in 2010, where he headed the bank’s distressed debt trading team, to run the unit alongside Timothy Alexander, who focused on leveraged finance trading. Alexander is still with the bank, UBS spokeswoman Stephanie Aneto said. She declined to comment on the departure, citing company policy.

UBS, Switzerland’s biggest lender, said in November it would reduce staff in its investment bank by 2,000, or 11 percent, as it scales back the unit and focuses on wealth management. It plans to cut the division’s risk-weighted assets by 145 billion Swiss francs ($158 billion) to comply with tougher capital requirements known as Basel III, which will more than triple the core reserves lenders must hold.

--Editors: Faris Khan, Mitchell Martin

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Morris in London at smorris39@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Faris Khan at fkhan33@bloomberg.net