Legal & General Group Plc has announced the appointment of Scott Wheway as an independent non-executive director and the financial services group’s next chair.

Wheway is currently chair of Scottish Widows Group and a non-executive director at Lloyds Banking Group Plc and will stand down from these roles at the end of this month. The chair success process was led by Henrietta Baldock, senior independent director, on behalf of the board.

Wheway served as chair of Centrica plc between 2020 and 2024, having been a non-executive director since 2016. Prior to this, he was chair of AXA UK plc and Aviva Insurance Limited, senior independent director of Santander UK plc, and a non-executive director of Aviva plc.

Before his non-executive career, Wheway was an executive in the retail sector for more than 25 years, both in the UK and internationally, where he held positions including CEO of Best Buy Europe, managing director of Boots the Chemist plc, and a number of senior executive positions at Tesco plc, including CEO, Japan.

António Simões, L&G group chief executive officer, said: “I am delighted to welcome Scott to the board. His focus on customers, operational expertise, and experience leading growth businesses is well-aligned to our priorities, and I am also looking forward to drawing on his broad financial services insight to drive further progress and momentum on our strategy. I’d also like to thank John for the support he has given me over the last two years – I have no doubt he will continue to bring as much energy as ever to the role before standing down in May.”

Sir John Kingman, chair of L&G, added: “Scott is an outstanding choice to be the future chair of L&G. I look forward to working with him as a member of the board from January and assisting in his transition to chair over the months that follow.”