Former ANZ Bank CEO John McFarlane has been touted as the next chairman of British insurance giant Aviva.

Media reports in London say 63-year-old Mr McFarlane, who is a director at the Royal Bank of Scotland, is set to be named as Lord Colin Sharman’s successor at Aviva.

Former IAG CEO Michael Hawker is a non-executive director on the Aviva board.

Meanwhile, Australian Trevor Matthews has been appointed UK CEO of Aviva.

He was formerly Vice Chairman of UK life insurer Friends Life and was previously CEO at Friends Provident Holdings.

Mr Matthews left Australia about eight years ago to take up a number of senior positions at ManuLife in Canada and Japan, having worked at NAB and Legal & General as MD before Colonial bought the Australian operations in the late 1990s.