LONDON (Bloomberg) — HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest bank by market value, named Middle East head Niall Booker to be chief operating officer of a US unit which was hit with higher than expected loan delinquencies.Booker joins Prospect Heights, Illinois-based HSBC Finance Corp., reporting to Chief Executive Officer Brendan McDonagh, the bank said. Youssef Nasr will succeed Booker as CEO of HSBC Middle East.

The appointment comes after London-based HSBC tightened loan requirements and fired managers to deal with delinquencies, which rose last year to $10.6 billion worldwide, driven by borrowers with poor credit histories in the US. McDonagh replaced HSBC Finance Corp. head Bobby Mehta, who resigned last month.

Booker will help “better integrate HSBC Finance with the wider group” and try to contain bad debts, said group CEO Michael Geoghegan in the statement.