People: Societe Generale appoints new chief risk officer

Societe Generale has appointed Diony Lebot as group chief risk officer (CRO), effective from July 1.

Lebot has been promoted from her position as deputy CRO, and replaces Benoît Ottenwaelter, who retires after 28 years at the French bank.

Lebot joined Societe Generale in 1986, holding several positions within structured finance before becoming global head of asset finance in 2001. She then moved into the firm's corporates and institutions division, becoming head of corporate coverage in Europe. She was appointed chief executive for the Americas in 2007 and later became chief executive for global banking and investment solutions in Western Europe, before taking up her current role last year.

As group CRO, she will continue to be based in Paris, reporting to Séverin Cabannes, group deputy chief executive.

Meanwhile, the role of deputy CRO will be shared between Jean-François Grégoire – who has held the post since 2015 – and Grégoire Simon-Barboux, currently head of credit risk at SG. His move will also take effect from July 1.

Robert Cook, the former director of the trading and markets division at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been named as president and chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra).

Cook will succeed current chief executive Richard Ketchum at the self-regulatory organisation from July. Ketchum has been chairman and chief executive of Washington, DC-based Finra since 2009, but is set to leave. Finra declined to comment on the reasons for his departure.

Cook joins from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, where he is a partner focused on the regulation of securities markets. He joined the US law firm in 1992 and became partner in 2001. He left to work for the SEC between 2010 and 2013, where he served as director of the trading and markets division. There, he was charged with overseeing 250 staff dedicated to regulatory policy and the oversight of markets, exchanges and broker-dealers.

In addition to chief executive, Ketchum also holds the post of chairman, which Cook will not take on. Instead, Finra said it would name a new chairman during the coming months.

Andre Cronje, former UBS global chief operating officer (COO), has joined HSBC as its London-based COO of global banking and markets.

Cronje started his new role on June 13, reporting to Samir Assaf and group COO Andy Maguire. He succeeds Didier Deschamps, who held the role on an interim basis after David Burnett left the UK bank in March. Deschamps becomes global head of balance sheet management.

Cronje left UBS in November last year after a two-year stint as global COO. He was replaced by Beatriz Martin Jimenez.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has appointed Megan Butler (pictured) as director of supervision for investment, wholesale and specialist firms, on a permanent basis.

Butler had held the role on a temporary basis since predecessor Tracy McDermott became acting chief executive amid the departure of former chief executive Martin Wheatley. McDermott is to leave the agency in July.

Butler initially joined on secondment from the Prudential Regulation Authority, before serving as executive director for the international banks directorate. Prior to that, she headed the enforcement law and policy division at the now-defunct UK Financial Services Authority. She previously worked for the London Stock Exchange in a variety of roles, including as head of capital markets.

Butler will continue to be based in London and will report directly to chief executive Andrew Bailey, who joins the authority in July.

New York-based risk and portfolio management software vendor Axioma has announced the appointment of Ian Webster, its chief of staff, to the newly created role of chief operating officer.

Webster joined Axioma in 2011 as managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, before becoming chief of staff in January.

He previously served as global head of data management and corporate actions at UBS Asset Management and as global head of market data at Barclays Global Investors. Prior to joining BGI in 1998, Webster was vice-president of data strategy at risk vendor Barra.

Gill Clarke has been named as strategic compliance director at Hermes Investment Management, the London-based investment manager.

In the newly created role, she will lead the compliance team and deal with compliance monitoring and advisory. She will also be responsible for developing a strategic compliance plan to optimise business growth and act as a strategic adviser on all compliance-related matters to Hermes' executive committee and board.

Clarke joins from UK-based merchant bank Close Brothers, where she served as head of legal, compliance and risk.

Ashley Alder (pictured), chief executive of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, was named as chair of the board of the Madrid-based International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco) on May 12.

Alder, who previously served as vice-chair, succeeds Greg Medcraft, chairman of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission. Medcraft had served in the role since 2013. His tenure featured work by Iosco in areas such as cyber crime, benchmarks, cross-border regulation and central counterparties for over-the-counter derivatives.

Meanwhile, Jean-Paul Servais, chairman of the Financial Services and Markets Authority of Belgium, was chosen to replace Alder as vice-chair of the Iosco board.

The UK-based fraud prevention organisation Cifas has announced the appointment of Barbara Judge as its new chair. Judge will take up the role in September this year, replacing Ken Cherrett, who has held the position since the inception of Cifas in 1991.

A US-UK dual national, Judge is currently chairman of the UK Institute of Directors and chairman of the UK Pension Protection Fund. Previously, she served as a commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission and as deputy chairman of the UK Financial Reporting Council. She has also served as a public member of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants.

A not-for-profit company, Cifas collates databases of confirmed fraud data, as well as providing a range of fraud prevention technology to help organisations fend off fraud and financial crime.