Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on October 13, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
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L&G appoints Scott Wheway as new chair, succeeding John Kingman, amid strategic shifts to focus on core operations.
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's Legal & General said on Monday it had hired finance and retail veteran Scott Wheway to become its new chairman from next May, succeeding John Kingman as the FTSE 100 insurer undergoes wider board changes.
Wheway will join L&G's board from January as a non-executive director and chair designate before taking over from Kingman - who has served nine years as chair - after the company's annual general meeting, the firm said.
L&G is also looking for a new finance chief after Jeff Davies said he would step down at the end of this year to join insurance group Resolution Life.
L&G is undergoing a strategy shake-up under CEO Antonio Simoes that has seen it offload non-core businesses such as its U.S. protection business and housebuilder CALA Group in order to focus on its core insurance and asset management units in a bid to return more cash to shareholders.
Wheway is currently chair of Lloyds Banking Group's pensions arm Scottish Widows and has previously chaired British Gas owner Centrica and held board roles at AXA UK, Aviva and Santander UK. He is a former CEO of Best Buy Europe and held senior roles at Boots and Tesco.
(Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru and Iain Withers in London; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
A chairman is the head of a board of directors in a company, responsible for leading meetings, ensuring effective governance, and representing the company to stakeholders.
A non-executive director is a member of a company's board who does not engage in the day-to-day management but provides independent oversight and strategic guidance.
Corporate governance refers to the systems, principles, and processes by which a company is directed and controlled, ensuring accountability and transparency in its operations.
A finance chief, often called a Chief Financial Officer (CFO), is responsible for managing the financial actions of a company, including financial planning, risk management, and financial reporting.
An annual general meeting (AGM) is a yearly gathering of a company's shareholders where they discuss the company's performance, elect directors, and make decisions on key issues.
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