HSBC Malta plc has announced that its appointment of Elizabeth Hardy as its Chief Operating Officer (COO) has obtained regulatory approval and has started in her new role from 1st February.

The appointment was announced last April but only received the necessary approval recently.

Ms Hardy is taking over from Nikolaos Fertakis, who is now Chief Operating Officer for Risk at HSBC Europe.

Previously resident in Milan as the COO of the city’s branch of HSBC France, she has also occupied similar roles in Russia and Kazakhstan in a long career with the bank that started in 1982.

Other roles held by Ms Hardy include inter alia: Senior Manager Governance, Risk and Compliance HSBC UK; Manager HR Internal Control HSBC UK; and Vice President Operations at HSBC Data Processing (Shanghai) Ltd (SPC) China.

She holds a Graduate Diploma in Management from the University of East Anglia, UK.