Ex-ANZ boss to chair Aviva

15th Jun 2011 13:46

Insurance colossus Aviva has confirmed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) non-executive director John McFarlane will be its new chairman.McFarlane, currently based in Australia, will relocate to the UK and take over as chairman of Aviva from Lord Sharman of Redlynch at the end of June 2012.He will join the board of Aviva as a non-executive director on 1 September, 2011, and will assume the position of deputy chairman at the beginning of 2012.As for his duties at RBS, McFarlane will step down from the board of the part-nationalised lender by 31 March, 2012. McFarlane joined the RBS board after the government bailed out the lender in 2008."John McFarlane's extensive experience as both an executive and non-executive director in international financial services will be invaluable to Aviva," claimed Lord Sharman.McFarlane was chief executive of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) for ten years, and has also held numerous other senior positions, including group executive director at Standard Chartered, and head of Citibank in the UK and Ireland.The appointment brings to an end a search for Sharman's successor that has been in progress since September of last year.--jh