MOVES-HSBC appoints Ian Stuart to lead British retail bank

LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - HSBC said on Tuesday that it had appointed Ian Stuart as the chief executive officer of its ring-fenced UK retail business.

Stuart, who is currently head of commercial banking for UK and Europe, will step down from that role to lead the bank's British retail banking and wealth management, commercial banking and global private banking operations.

Britain's ring-fencing rules aim to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, when banks' bad bets in wholesale financial markets put ordinary depositors' cash at risk, and led to big taxpayer-funded bailouts.

The rules apply to all banks in Britain that have both retail and commercial or investment banking activities. HSBC's ring-fenced bank will be headquartered in Birmingham from 2018, a year before the separation of the business has to take place.

HSBC announced in November that Clara Furse will chair the new division. (Reporting By Andrew MacAskill; editing by Simon Jessop)