UBS announced today that it would split its global wealth management business into two divisions: one for America and one for the rest of the world. The American business will be lead by Marten Hoekstra.

The move is unlikely to dampen speculation that UBS intends to spin off the business. “They’ve nicely separated out the business unit. It allows them to pull the trigger when they have to,” says Alois Pirker, senior analyst at Boston-based consultants Aite Group.

Moreover, while the Wealth Management International and Switzerland business posted a profit for the fourth quarter of CHF712 million ($616 million), the US wealth management posted a pre-tax loss of CHF341 million ($295 million). Pirker says the move to separate the business will increase the accountability of the U.S. unit. “It shows investors that one part of the business is profitable and one part isn’t,” he says. “If UBS continues to have bad results, the U.S. business will be one of the first ports of call.”

Following a hiring spree in the latter half of 2008, the U.S. division saw a 3% increase in the number of advisors to 8,182. Meanwhile client assets dropped 18% over the quarter to CHF636 billion ($550 billion).

Overall, UBS posted a fourth quarter loss of CHF8.1 billion ($6.9 billion) and announced plans to eliminate an additional 2,000 investment banking jobs.