ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS (>> UBS AG) will outsource its fixed-income trading platform to two French software companies in an attempt to save costs and weather tougher regulation in the industry, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

UBS will replace its host of platforms with standardised technology from Murex and Ion Trading, the source said, as the Zurich-based bank undergoes a three-year plan to largely withdraw from rates and credit trading.

Global investment banks are rethinking their operations and, in most cases, shrinking their businesses due to a regulatory drive to make markets less risky and a reduction in banks trading for their own account.

Fixed income units, which encompass foreign exchange and commodities as well as debt and bond trading activities, are particularly vulnerable to the sweep of regulatory change aimed at preventing another financial crisis.

A spokeswoman for UBS declined to comment on Monday. Murex and Ion Trading were not immediately available for comment.

"The move to outsource is in line with UBS's strategy for their fixed-income arm and with the streamlining of fixed income as whole," said Rainer Skierka, an analyst at J. Safra Sarasin, who has a buy rating on UBS stock.

Societe Generale (>> SOCIETE GENERALE), France's No. 2 listed bank by value, has also outsourced back-office operations to Accenture as part of a drive to save costs.

An unexpected fourth-quarter loss at Deutsche Bank (>> Deutsche Bank AG) underscored the challenges facing banks with large debt-trading divisions.

(Reporting by Alice Baghdjian and Oliver Hirt in Zurich, Lionel Laurent in Paris and Aashika Jain in Bangalore; Editing by Louise Heavens)

Stocks treated in this article : SOCIETE GENERALE, Deutsche Bank AG, UBS AG