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Iqbal Khan's move to UBS is likely to spark a round of further moves between the Swiss giant and Credit Suisse. One UBS banker is emerging as a leading candidate to oversee Credit Suisse.

UBS banker Ulrich Koerner may be coming up trumps in the race to succeed Urs Rohner as chairman of Credit Suisse, several people familiar with the board's thinking told finews.com. Koerner was replaced as the head of UBS' asset management arm last month, in a wider shake-up of the Swiss wealth giant's management.

The move would represent a surprising twist in the 56-year-old's career. Koerner has spent the last five years in something of corporate hinterland: the money management arm is dwarfed by UBS' private bank and investment bank. The German-Swiss banker has been in the top management of first Credit Suisse and then UBS for the last 16 years.

Keen Survival Instinct

A spokesman for Credit Suisse declined to comment on succession planning for the 60-year-old Rohner, whose term expires in 2021. Koerner, who missed targets in his most recent job at UBS, seems an unlikely choice for the Credit Suisse job at first glance.

His longevity in the C-Suite is largely due to a keen survival instinct and (mostly) deft internal moves. His career at Credit Suisse flourished under previous CEO Oswald Gruebel, when Koerner was the turnaround specialist and chief enforcer for his boss as finance chief, then operating boss during a troubled period.

Stiff, Cerebral, Impatient

Unsurprisingly, Koerner heeded Gruebel's call to UBS in 2009, when the Swiss bank was still reeling from a bailout, $50 billion in subprime losses, and a watershed moment in a fight with U.S. tax officials. Koerner applied his cost-cutting, efficiency-seeking formula at UBS as operating chief, where he oversaw 25,000 staff. He helped UBS emerge successfully from an over three-year acute crisis.