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Swiss govt names securities lawyer Bauer to head financial regulator

Reuters - UK Focus

(Adds context)

ZURICH, July 1 (Reuters) - The Swiss government said on Wednesday Thomas Bauer, an expert in banking law and combating money laundering, would become the new chairman of the financial regulator FINMA from January 2016.

FINMA's seven-member governing council said in a statement it had chosen Bauer "on account of his track record and his proven banking law expertise, namely in the area of due diligence obligations and combating money laundering, in company law and in insolvency and restructuring law".

The biggest case FINMA has tackled in the past year has been attempts by the Zurich-based bank UBS (NYSEArca: FBGX - news) to manipulate foreign exchange benchmarks.

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The regulator ordered UBS to hand over 134 million Swiss francs ($142.42 million) as part of a global investigation into forex trading.

FINMA drew some criticism this year over its handling of allegations surrounding HSBC Holdings Plc (HKSE: 0005.HK - news) 's Swiss business. A parliamentary subcommittee later concluded it was satisfied with FINMA's oversight of the unit.

Bauer (Other OTC: BRAGF - news) , 60, will join FINMA's board in August and will take over as chairman from Anne Heritier Lachat after her term expires at the end of 2015.

Former UBS banker Mark Branson remains CEO in charge of day-to-day supervision of banks and insurers.

The government also named on Wednesday three new FINMA board members -- former banking lobby lawyer Renate Schwob, former Julius Baer (Other OTC: JBARF - news) banker Bernard Keller and Marlene Amstad, a regional adviser for the Bank for International Settlements.

The government said all three were independent of the entities they would supervise and said they would relinquish any duties which could lead to conflicts of interest.

The comment about their independence was an attempt to avoid any embarrassing missteps. Last year a veteran FINMA board member had to unexpectedly step down due to ties to Banque Privee Espirito Santo SA (BPES), then part of the Portuguese Espirito Santo group of companies. ($1 = 0.9409 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Katharina Bart; Editing by Gareth Jones)