American Express (Amex) has appointed managing counsel Tim Heine as interim general counsel (GC) as the company reshuffles the legal team's internal reporting system.

The credit card giant said in an internal announcement that Heine will take up the role in the New Year, standing in for outgoing postholder Louise Parent, who has worked at the company for over 20 years.

Parent is joining Cleary Gottleib Steen & Hamilton's New York office as of counsel next spring. She has worked at Amex since May 1993.

Heine will take up the reins until the company concludes its search for Parent's replacement. He will report directly to Amex CEO Ken Chenault.

As part of his role as Heine has overseen major legal areas for the company including litigation, advertising and insurance services.

Meanwhile two departments, global security and aviation, will no longer report to the GC. This will come into effect at the start of January next year.

Chenault said: "These changes will enable our general counsel's organisation, which I believe is the best in the business, to focus its energies entirely on its core responsibilities in an increasingly complex regulatory and legal environment."

The global security group will report to global corporate services president Steve Squeri, while maintaining a "dotted-line relationship" with the GC. The aviation group will report to chief human resources officer Kevin Lee.