Lloyds Banking Group's general counsel for group legal Hugh Pugsley has left the bank to join HSBC, it has emerged.

Pugsley departed from Lloyds in April to take up the role of UK GC at HSBC.

Former Royal Bank of Scotland lawyer Lisa Shurdom has stepped into Pugsley's position at Lloyds on an interim basis.

It is understood that Pugsley's exit from the bank was amicable and by mutual agreement.

He was promoted from head of corporate and M&A legal at Lloyds to GC for group legal in September 2013 after three years at the bank.

He had served in the group legal GC role on an interim basis since the beginning of that year after former post-holder Kate Cheetham became deputy GC at the bank.

Former Allen & Overy associate Pugsley took charge of a team of more than 60 lawyers on his promotion with a remit ranging from providing advice on financial reporting and listing obligations to IT and property issues.

As head of HSBC's UK legal team, Pugsley is overseeing both HSBC's banking and insurance businesses in his new role.

Along with Pugsley, Lloyds also lost 25 in-house litigation lawyers in April in an attempt to introduce a "more streamlined and efficient operating model" that will see more high-volume, low-cost litigation work outsourced to external providers.

A tender process for that work is still ongoing, it is understood.

Earlier this week HSBC announced plans to cut up to 50,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years in an effort to cut $5bn (£3.2bn) of costs.

A bank spokesperson declined to say how many of these cuts would fall on its legal team, or if the bank had instructed an external law firm to advise on the redundancies.