CompaniesSep 12 2014

Barclays names Aviva’s McFarlane as new chair

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Barclays has poached Aviva chairman John McFarlane to head its board from next year, with the insurance company replacing the former banker with Sir Adrian Montague.

Mr McFarlane will replace Barclays’ current chair Sir David Walker, who is 74 years old according to Bloomberg data and will retire next year, reports FTAdviser sister title FastFT.

Mr McFarlane is currently chairman of insurance giant Aviva and Scotland’s FirstGroup, a former chief executive of ANZ and a latterly a senior executive at Standard Chartered and Citi.

In a statement Barclays said: “Mr McFarlane has a strong track record as a CEO and subsequently as a Chairman. He brings extensive experience of investment, corporate and retail banking, as well as insurance, strategy, risk and cultural change.”

He will step down from both Aviva and FirstGroup to focus on his job at Barclays, which has been beset by an array of problems in recent years, but remain a non-executive director of Westfield Holdings and Old Oak.

Aviva announced that Sir Adrian Montague would succeed Mr McFarlane as chairman of the insurance group, and said:

“The Board was made aware some time ago of the possibility that John might need to leave earlier than he had anticipated to return to banking.

“The Board has nonetheless been able to assure continuity in Aviva’s transformation, in making this appointment without hiatus, thanks to the Company’s progress in its recovery, the capability of its management team led by Mark Wilson and the strength of the Board.”

Mr McFarlane has been chairman of FirstGroup for less than a year, and said “it is with regret that I must take the difficult step of leaving FirstGroup so early in my tenure”.

The bus and rail company said its senior independent director, Drummond Hall has begun the process to identify a replacement, and said: “It is unfortunate that John will be unable to see his tenure through at FirstGroup, but we all understand the importance of the role at Barclays he has been asked to take on.”

The news was first reported by Sky News.