LONDON (REUTERS) - 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 Ms 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 US$1.9 billion (S$2.3 billion) for US anti money-laundering lapses.

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