Swiss bank UBS on Friday said it has appointed former Deutsche Bundesbank president Axel Weber as its new chairman, the first step in a generation change at the Swiss bank's highest echelon that is likely to be followed by other top personnel moves.

Weber, who will be the first non-Swiss chairman to lead UBS, is scheduled to join the bank's board in 2012 and will chair the board from 2013 onwards. He will replace 70-year old Kaspar Villiger, a former Swiss minister, who helped steer the bank through one of its worst crises.