UBS and HSBC see key in-house moves
The start of 2014 has seen almost as much in the way of global lateral movement and internal promotions in-house as out. Last month, MasterCard named Tim Murphy as its general counsel (GC) and chief franchise officer; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher appointed UBS’s former global head of investigations and Americas GC Mark Shelton as a partner in New York; and HSBC confirmed that Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton partner Shawn Chen has joined the bank to oversee its regulatory and enforcement department.
Murphy is to take his seat on the corporation’s executive committee as MasterCard’s GC from 1 April as current incumbent Noah Hanft retires from the role.
Murphy joined MasterCard’s legal team in 2000 and became senior vice president and associate GC in 2003, later becoming chief product officer.
MasterCard’s president and chief executive officer Ajay Banga said: ‘Tim’s legal background, coupled with his extensive experience leading important portions of our business, makes him the ideal candidate to take our company forward’.
Hanft is to take the role of president and chief executive of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, a non-profit organisation with the objective of helping global businesses resolve complex commercial disputes, as of 1 May.
Meanwhile, Gibson Dunn’s hire of heavyweight bank regulatory specialist Shelton is a coup for the US law firm.
During his ten-year spell at UBS, Shelton served in several in-house positions, having most recently served both as Americas GC since 2009 and as global head of investigations since 2011.
At Gibson Dunn, Shelton will focus on advising financial institutions on regulation, internal and regulatory investigations, financial sanctions, foreign corrupt practices, anti-money laundering, enforcement and congressional hearings.
A former partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr from 1997 to 2003, Shelton’s role as global head of investigations gave him responsibility for significant internal and regulatory investigations for all business groups globally. He led UBS’s global internal investigation into Libor activities, appeared before numerous global regulatory bodies, and conducted settlement discussions with various government agencies.
Gibson Dunn chairman and managing partner Ken Doran said Shelton ‘gained exceptional depth and breadth of experience’ during his time at UBS, ‘related to multi-jurisdictional regulatory and other sophisticated legal issues facing large, global financial institutions’. He added: ‘Mark will significantly enhance our financial institutions capabilities.’
Elsewhere, former Cleary partner Chen has joined HSBC, where he will share global responsibility with joint GC Guy Nielson for the bank’s exposure to litigation and regulatory enforcement risk, as well as the financial crime compliance advisory department, the global internal investigations group, and the employment and human resources advisory group. Both will report to current chief legal officer Stuart Levey.
Washington-based Chen focused on white-collar criminal defence, securities enforcement and complex civil litigation during his time at Cleary.
His move in-house comes just months after former senior White House lawyer Preeta Bansal exited HSBC after only a year-long stint as head of litigation and regulatory affairs, one of several top-level hires made by the bank following a US Senate investigation into the bank’s dealings.