Aviva is close to naming Lord Sharman as successor to its long-serving chairman Pehr Gyllenhammar, reports have said.
Lord Sharman led KPMG, where he spent most of his career and was chairman from 1997 until his retirement in 1999. He joined the Aviva board in January as an independent non-executive director and was thought to have been recruited with the understanding that he would succeed Gyllenhammar as chairman.
Gyllenhammar has been widely expected to retire from his non-executive role before Aviva's 2006 annual meeting.
