Lisa Osofsky will have to address the issue of a potential merger with the National Crime Agency

A former FBI lawyer whose most recent work involved monitoring HSBC for criminal conduct has been appointed as the next director of the Serious Fraud Office.

More than a month after the agency’s previous director stepped down, it confirmed today that Lisa Osofsky would become the first non-Briton to take charge.

Ms Osofsky, 56, who is qualified in US and English law, will join from September after leaving Exiger, a private financial compliance business, where she had been head of its London-based investigations practice. The SFO, which has 300 permanent staff, investigates and prosecutes serious or complex fraud and corruption in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The appointment had been delayed by a prolonged vetting procedure because of Ms Osofsky’s US citizenship. She joins at