Wednesday, Swiss financial services firm UBS AG (UBS) said its Board appointed Ulrich Körner Group Chief Operating Officer and CEO of Corporate Center. In the newly created role, Körner will be a member of the Group Executive Board and the Group Executive Committee of the bank. Further, UBS said it would consolidate its IT units of the business divisions at the group level to cut costs.
Walter Stuerzinger, currently Chief Operating Officer of Corporate Center, will leave the Group Executive Board, the company added. Stuerzinger will support the Group COO with the development of Group-wide measures to enhance profitability and cost efficiency.
Körner will be responsible for the service units centralized in Corporate Center as well as for the cross-divisional departments and projects of Zurich, Switzerland-based UBS. In addition, he will support the Group CEO and the CEOs of UBS' business divisions with the development and implementation of strategy.
Born in 1962, Körner has been with Credit Suisse (CS) since 1998 and has served as a member of the executive management of the Credit Suisse Group for the last five years. He held various management positions, including that of chief finance officer and chief operating officer of Credit Suisse. Most recently, Körner was responsible for the entire Swiss client business as chief executive of the Switzerland region.
According to UBS, Körner has considerable experience in restructuring and integrating corporate structures and processes. He also has an acknowledged track record as a turnaround manager.
Further, UBS said it would bundle all group-wide service and infrastructure units within its Corporate Center in order to streamline processes and decision-making. This comprises Procurement and Real Estate and Facility Management as well as personnel management.
The IT units of the business divisions will be consolidated at the group level with the already centralized IT infrastructure unit, thus creating the potential for sustainable efficiency increases and cost savings. Under the leadership of the new Group COO, the corresponding management and organizational structure will be immediately revised and implemented in an ongoing manner.
Hurt deeply by the credit crisis, UBS has been taking up various measures to revive its credibility. The company recently effected management changes at the top level, including the appointment of former Credit Suisse Chief Oswald Grübel as the new Group Chief Executive Officer and nomination of Kaspar Villiger, a former Swiss Finance Minister, as its candidate for the role of Chairman.
It was reported on Monday that the company would cut another 8,000 jobs and write down at least $2 billion in illiquid assets in the next few days. Since the start of the credit crisis in the middle of 2007, UBS has cut about 7,000 jobs, most of them in the investment banking sector.
UBS closed Tuesday's regular trade at $9.43, up $0.54 or 6.07%, on 5.59 million shares.
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