Royal London chairman Kevin Parry is stepping down at the end of the year and his deputy Lynne Peacock will fill the role on an interim basis until a successor is found.

Mr Parry informed the board that he does not wish to serve beyond this year, his sixth in the role, and the board accepted his resignation in line with his notice period.

He previously served as director of the firm’s asset management wing between April 2020 and June 2021 and held the same role on Intermediate Capital Group’s board for over a decade.

Ms Peacock is a former chief executive of Clydesdale Bank and its former parent, National Australia Bank UK.

Royal London is the UK’s biggest mutual life, pensions and investment company. It has substantial operations in Edinburgh, with offices in St Andrew Square and Haymarket following its acquisition of the former Scottish Provident and Scottish Life businesses.

Baroness Ruth Davidson, former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, sits on the board as an independent non-executive director.

Mr Parry said: “It has been a privilege to chair Britain’s leading mutual insurance and asset management group.

“The group needs to continue to develop its strategy to take advantage of market opportunities for growth across its insurance and asset management businesses for the benefit of our members.

“That requires leadership from a chair who can commit to a medium-term tenure of five or so years which is not available to me. 

“I am grateful to Lynne for agreeing to take on the interim chair role whilst my successor is identified.

“I wish all my colleagues and our members the very best for the future success of Royal London.”

Ms Peacock is currently senior independent director on the boards of Serco and TSB Banking Group, a board member at International Distributions Services (formerly Royal Mail) and chairs the charity Learning Disability Network London.

Other previous roles include chairman of The Standard Life Assurance Co., non-executive chairman of Standard Life Assurance Ltd., independent non-executive director of abrdn, director of abrdn Holdings, independent non-executive director of JLT Group Holdings and a non-executive director of Scottish Water.

She added: “On behalf of the [Royal London] board, I would like to thank Kevin for his advice and guidance in leading the strategic development of Royal London over the time of his tenure and wish him all the best in his next ventures.

“Personally, I have known Kevin for many years and whilst I know that we will all miss him, we understand the reasons for his decision.”