[ by Melanie Gretchen ] HSBC Holdings PLC is hiring a new head of global standards assurance, a new position to address what the bank says were lapses in its legal-compliance programs, said a person familiar with the bank's plans.  The U.K.-based global bank is expected to appoint Robert Werner, a former U.S. government official and recently in compliance management at Goldman Sachs. As director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Treasury Department's sanctions-watchdog unit, Mr. Werner policed U.S. sanctions against narcotics traffickers and terrorists.  At HSBC, he will help enforce the bank's new practices to share information across its units, oversee a new global sanctions list, and lead a new internal investigations unit. Mr. Werner's appointment comes in light of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report last month accusing HSBC's U.S. bank of being a conduit for money launderers and potential terrorist financiers.  In addition, the report alleged that the bank evaded sanctions against Iran and other countries.  Specifically, HSBC's Mexico branch moved billions of dollars of bulk cash through HSBC's U.S. bank despite suspicions that client accounts were being used for laundering of drug money and other illicit funds, the Senate investigation found. In addition to having set aside $700 million to help pay fines to resolve the Justice Department's money-laundering probe, the bank has begun overhauling its operations.  Changes include the bank's new policy of sharing client information internally where possible, instead of reflexively trying to shield privacy, Stuart Levey, who became the bank's chief legal officer earlier this, said in an interview earlier last week. For further details, go to [WSJ, 8/13/12].