The Financial Services Authority has tapped Royal Bank of Canada’s defender in an Enron-related lawsuit to serve as its new head of enforcement.

Margaret Cole, 43, partner in the London office of the international law firm White & Case, has been hired to head FSA enforcement. In 2004, she represented Royal Bank in High Court proceedings concerning a US$500-million Enron-related swaps transaction.

In the 1990s, she led the actions to recover the Maxwell Co. pension funds, and she was also responsible for a large number of recovery actions in the liquidation of the notorious Bank of Credit & Commerce International. She has represented clients on matters related to FSA investigations and decisions and advises banks on financial regulation, risk management and money laundering issues.

“Margaret is one of the City’s most experienced and respected financial services litigators,” FSA chief executive, John Tiner, said in a release. “I am delighted that she has agreed to lead this important element of the FSA’s operations.”

“The FSA has a critical role to play in maintaining the standards which have made the UK the world’s leading international financial centre,” Cole said in a statement. “I am very much looking forward to joining the FSA and to working with the excellent team in the Enforcement Division.”

She starts in July. At the FSA, Cole will lead a team of 200 and report to Tiner.

www.fsa.gov.uk