Siemens general counsel Peter Solmssen is to resign from the company at the end of the year, after six years in the role.

The engineering company said Solmssen, who served as both GC and head of legal and compliance, is leaving by mutual agreement.

He will be replaced by Siemens' corporate and finance GC Andreas Christian Hoffmann, who was a private equity partner at Baker & McKenzie and Ashurst between 2000 and 2005.

However, unlike Solmssen, Hoffmann will not have a role on the managing board.

Board-level responsibility for legal and compliance will be assigned to president and chief executive Joe Kaeser.

Solmssen joined Siemens' managing board in 2007 after six years at General Electric, where he held a number of general counsel and senior roles. He was previously a senior partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Philadelphia, where he focused on M&A and securities law.

In a statement, the chairman of Siemens' supervisory board Gerhard Cromme said: "Mr. Solmssen joined Siemens at a difficult time and played a key role in investigating the compliance affair at our company.

"By establishing a strong compliance organization, he performed a major service and made important contributions to steering Siemens through a challenging phase and restoring its good reputation."

"Peter Solmssen played a central role in establishing a sustainable corporate culture of integrity which is viewed as exemplary worldwide," added Kaeser.

"This achievement will remain our benchmark and our beacon as we further align our legal and compliance organization."