Former HSBC boss lined up as next Standard Life Aberdeen chairman

Sir Douglas Flint, the Glaswegian former chairman of HSBC is reported to be the target of Standard Life Aberdeen as a replacement for current chairman Sir Gerry Grimstone.

According to reports in The Times newspaper, Sir Douglas, who stood down from Britain’s biggest bank in September last year, has been approached to lead the board at the £610bn fund manager.

He is understood to be among two or three candidates being considered for the chairmanship of the Edinburgh-based firm.

A graduate of the University of Glasgow, Flint, 63, trained as an accountant at KPMG and spent 22 years at HSBC, first as finance director and then as group chairman.

Since leaving, he has been made the Treasury’s special envoy for China’s Belt and Road initiative and taken the chairmanship of IP Group, a FTSE 250 intellectual property company.

Citing a source close to the situation, The Times notes that Flint is being seen as a “very credible candidate” to chair Standard Life Aberdeen.

The source said: “If he wants it, they should bloody take him.”