American Lisa Osofsky, a prominent contributor to our web-pages, is to become the next director of the UK's Serious Fraud Office.

Mark Thompson was appointed as the office's temporary director last month and will return to his job as chief operating officer in due course.

Lisa, formerly a New York federal prosecutor, a deputy general counsel at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the former money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) of Goldman Sachs, has spent the latter part of her career at spy firms such as Control Risks (where she was the regulatory advisor) and, in recent years, Exiger.

This last firm was set up in the aftermath of the HSBC fine of 2012, with the aim of helping the banking giant revamp its anti-money-laundering operations in line with US regulatory expectations. Disciplinary action from British regulators, although promised, never materialised.

Lisa was in charge of the firm’s investigative and compliance activities at globally active firms that had found themselves in trouble with regulators and governments, covering the fields of money laundering and sanctions. She was promised her next appointment by the UK's Attorney General after a rigorous and competitive process, overseen by a civil service commissioner.

David Green's tenure at the head of the SFO has been a far from successful one. Acquittals have been more numerous than convictions and Lord Justice Gross of the Appeal Court recently and humiliatingly berated the SFO for using an 'inexpert' expert witness. A High Court judgment, given by Mr Justice Green, also recently criticised the SFO for failing to meet its duty of disclosure to a defendant in criminal proceedings. Basic failures such as these are never good for any prosecutor's reputation for rudimentary competence.

Lisa's tenure will begin on 3rd September. We wish her the very best in a difficult situation.