Societe Generale (SocGen) has appointed Dominique Bourrinet as group general counsel, taking over from Gerard Gardella from 1 January.

Bourrinet joined SocGen in 1994 as an in-house lawyer in the corporate and investment bank and became GC for the bank in 2010. He has been group deputy general counsel since October this year.

Gardella will become adviser to the group's corporate secretary, Patrick Suet, from 1 January.

Bourrinet began his career with the BNP Paribas Group in the eurocredit department before joining the CEGOS consulting and training firm as a consultant, where he worked in particular for the European Social Fund.

In November SocGen appointed Christopher Davies as its new GC for Asia Pacific after the promotion of its former legal head for the region to a new role in Paris.

Davies, who is currently head of compliance at the company, has relocated to Hong Kong from France to oversee a team of 55 legal staff. His appointment follows the departure of former GC for Asia Mark Duncan, who has moved to Paris from Hong Kong for the role of general counsel for global banking and investor solutions.