(6 June 2011 – Australia) Former ANZ Bank chief executive and now a non-executive director at Royal Bank of Scotland John McFarlane is to become the next chairman of British insurer Aviva.He is expected to be named as Lord Colin Sharman’s successor this week. McFarlane is a career banker who won plaudits in Australia for turning around ANZ, which he led for 10 years until 2007.
Mr McFarlane’s business career began with Ford in Europe before he moved to investment bank Citi, becoming its head in Britain. He has also worked at Standard Chartered as a group executive director.
Aviva is in the middle of a strategic overhaul as it looks to focus on 12 countries out of the 30 in which it operates and sell non-core businesses.
The company, which has a market value of pound Stirling £12 billion (A$18.4 billion), is walking away from lower-margin business in the US and Italy, and in March, it put RAC, the roadside rescue business, up for sale.