ZURICH — UBS AG said Wednesday it hired a former high-ranking executive from Credit Suisse Group to oversee a simplification of the bank, the first major move by new Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel.
From the Wall Street Journal:
ZURICH — UBS AG said Wednesday it hired a former high-ranking executive from Credit Suisse Group to oversee a simplification of the bank, the first major move by new Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel.
The Zurich-based bank said it will hire Ulrich Koerner as chief operating officer and head of its corporate center, which will become the main provider of internal services, such as information technology, for UBS. Until now, responsibility for IT had been spread between several units, according to insiders.
Mr. Koerner, a former McKinsey consultant, was until August the head of Credit Suisse’s overall Swiss business. Mr. Koerner worked closely with Mr. Gruebel, who was then CEO of Credit Suisse. In a surprise move, Mr. Gruebel was hired to head UBS in February.
Mr. Gruebel’s hiring of Mr. Koerner to oversee the streamlining of services makes good on a memorandum sent to employees shortly after he began. In the memo, he noted that the bank’s management is too convoluted and multilayered to make effective, global decisions, and that it is “essential” the bank cuts costs by axing jobs and through other measures.
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