Former Lloyds Banking Group real estate counsel Lesley Wan has joined The First Bank of Nigeria (FBN Bank) as general counsel.

She takes over from Parminder Nahl, who was appointed acting general counsel after Simon Nasta exited for GFG Alliance in November last year.

Wan said: "I'm really excited to join an organisation where, in addition to managing the legal risk, I am empowered to effect transformational change, develop talent programmes and focus on strategy and leadership to help deliver the vision of our dynamic CEO Paul Cardoen."

Wan left Lloyds in May last year after taking voluntary redundancy. Wan, who joined Lloyds in 2006, headed up the corporate real estate legal department at Lloyds, the UK's largest property bank.

Before moving in-house at German bank BayernLB in 2005, she worked in private practice at both Norton Rose Fulbright and Allen & Overy. In 2012, she received the British Legal Award for Legal Counsel of the Year (pictured) for her role in developing a new facility for real estate borrowing.

The news comes after the bank announced earlier this year that it would cut 22 in-house legal roles as part of the ongoing redundancy programme.

Last year, Lloyds also cut a handful of junior lawyer roles amid a wider restructuring of the group, while in April 2015, 25 lawyers from the bank's litigation team were made redundant, a move attributed to a desire to streamline its processes in light of increased regulatory scrutiny.

The cuts come as part of a wider ongoing reorganisation at the bank. Lloyds announced in October 2014 that it would cut 9,000 jobs and shut 200 of its branches over three years.