HSBC names new head of regulatory compliance

HSBC Holdings named a former auditor of the bank as its new head of global regulatory compliance on Monday in the latest move by Europe's biggest bank to beef up its compliance functions.

HSBC said Ruth Horgan would take on the role from April 2, responsible for developing strategy, standards, global systems and policies on compliance. It will exclude areas related to financial crime after HSBC last month separated that compliance function from other areas, just before it was fined a record $1.9 billion for U.S. anti money-laundering lapses.

Horgan will be based in London and joins from accounting firm KPMG, where she has been a partner since 1999 and most recently was its EMEA regional audit partner for Credit Suisse . She had been part of the audit team responsible for HSBC until March 2010.

(Reporting by Steve Slater; editing by Jane Baird)