Keith FordHSBC’s European general counsel Keith Ford has been appointed as the new Legal chief for Nationwide replacing Liz Kelly, who announced last fall that she is leaving in order to pursue outside interests and spend more time with her family.

Ford is starting his new role in the compliance leadership team in July, which incorporates the legal function. He has extensive experience in retail, wealth management and commercial divisions and previously led the legal team at HSBC’s UK retail banking arm.

Kelly, meanwhile, left the role in recent weeks, having assisted in finding her own replacement after pulling together a slimmed down legal adviser review, in a process that concluded Jan 31.

In January the review concluded that the firms to be hired would be Linklaters and Addleshaw Goddard.

Burges Salmon, Nabarro and Olswang were all dropped, having been appointed to the inaugural panel in 2009, while there were re-appointments for Allen & Overy and Eversheds.

Having previously worked at Sidley Austin and Clifford Chance as a junior lawyer, Kelly joined the building society as a senior solicitor before taking the GC role in 2009. Kelly was appointed Divisional Director for Legal and Compliance in 2011.