ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS said on Friday it had completed the merger of the main parent companies of the Swiss lender and its longtime rival Credit Suisse, which it acquired last year.

"The completion of the merger within the expected timeline was facilitated by the strong support from regulators across the globe," UBS said in a statement.

The parent merger is expected to allow the Swiss bank to get started with trickier stages of the integration such as combining IT systems, migrating clients from Credit Suisse and cutting the enlarged bank's workforce of more than 110,000.

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti said the merger was a "significant milestone" in the integration, which would be crucial to facilitating the migration of clients onto UBS platforms.

"It will also unlock the next phase of cost, capital, funding and tax benefits from the second half of 2024," he said.

The step follows a shake-up in the executive board of the bank announced on Thursday which will split its top wealth management role, carving out new responsibilities for two leading contenders to run the bank after Ermotti.

In its statement, UBS said the transition to a single U.S. intermediate holding company is planned for June 7, and that the merger of Credit Suisse Switzerland and UBS Switzerland is still expected to occur in the third quarter of 2024.

(Writing by Dave Graham, editing by Andrey Sychev)