Stewart to chair Standard Life

Standard Life, the mutual life insurer and a vocal institutional shareholder on corporate governance issues, yesterday defied proposals in the Higgs review by appointing Sir Brian Stewart as its new chairman.

Sir Brian, also chairman at Scottish & Newcastle, has been on the board of Standard Life since April 1993, breaching the Higgs proposal that chairmen should be independent at their first appointment. The Higgs report, published in January by Derek Higgs, a former banker, classes directors who have served for more than 10 years as no longer independent.

Sir Brian, 58, will replace John Trott as chairman, who has also come under fire from policyholders for his lack of independence. Mr Trott, 65, has served on the board for 29 years and will retire as chairman in June.

Standard Life yesterday defended the appointment of Sir Brian, under the "comply or explain" option of the Higgs' proposals. "Sir Brian complies with the independence criteria of the current combined code on corporate governance," a spokesman said yesterday. "We run a complex business and it would have been difficult to bring in someone that had no experience of life companies. The experience and quality we know he will bring to the job outweigh any concerns about his independence under Higgs' proposals. He is the right man for the job."

Sir Brian's chairmanship of Scottish & Newcastle also flies in the face of Higgs' proposals, which say that an individual should not hold more than one chairmanship of a major company. Standard Life yesterday said, however, that it was confident Sir Brian would devote enough time to both jobs. Until the appointment of Tony Froggatt as its chief executive last week, Sir Brian held both roles, another practice frowned upon by Higgs.