UBS said Wednesday it hired a former high-ranking executive from Credit Suisse to oversee a simplification of the bank, the first major move by new chief executive Oswald Grübel.

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.