Big Four accounting firm EY has hired Sajid Hussein, the longtime Bank of America Merrill Lynch general counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Hussein, who is based in London, had been with Bank of America Merrill Lynch for 14 years. He joins EY as a partner and general counsel for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, and is set to start on July 1.

He is succeeding EY GC Hervé Labaude, who is retiring after 25 years with the firm.

Hussein joined Bank of America in 2005 as associate general counsel – before the company acquired Merrill Lynch. He was previously a director in Deutsche Bank's London-based legal department. Prior to that, he was an associate at Allen & Overy in both London and Paris.

At Bank of America, he led a group of lawyers that provided legal support to global banks in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. His team covered capital markets trading and origination, M&A, investment grade and leveraged finance, transaction services, equities, rates, currencies and commodities. It also dealt with regulatory, employment, litigation and insolvency issues in the region.