Breedon to step down at Legal & General

Legal & General's chief executive, Tim Breedon, announced yesterday that he plans to leave the life insurer.

Mr Breedon, 53, will stay on until the end of next year to hand over to his successor at L&G and finish preparing the insurer for tough new regulations.

By the time he leaves, Mr Breedon will have been at L&G for 25 years and chief executive for seven years.

Mr Breedon has won praise for his build-up of L&G's investment management arm and his successful navigation of the financial crisis. He has also played a major role in preparing the UK industry for the European Union's Solvency II capital rules, scheduled for the start of 2013.

Mr Breedon said: "With the company in excellent shape I feel that next year will be the right time to retire from the company. By giving notice of this now, the board will have ample time to plan and ensure an orderly succession."

His decision to leave will start a recruitment process for one of the top jobs in British insurance. L&G has only had four chief executives in the last 40 years, all of which were appointed internally.

Eamonn Flanagan, an analyst at Shore Capital, said: "No doubt speculation will commence immediately regarding his replacement, with Nigel Wilson, currently finance director, likely to be in pole position."

Mr Breedon is likely to look for a new job outside the corporate world, possibly in the voluntary or NGO sectors or a post working on public policy issues.

External candidates for the chief executive's post could include Andy Haste, the departing boss of RSA; Evelyn Bourke, the chief commercial officer at Friends Life; and Jonathan Yates, finance director at Phoenix, the closed life fund group.