LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Keith Skeoch, the departing boss
of Standard Life Aberdeen, will become acting chairman
of Britain's accounting watchdog, Sky News reported.
Skeoch, who is due to stand down as CEO of the British asset
manager, would temporarily replace Simon Dingemans, who left the
FRC in May after only eight months in the job to join private
equity firm Carlyle.
The search for FRC chair is being conducted by Britain's
finance ministry.
"The day to day running of the Financial Reporting Council
will continue under its CEO Sir Jon Thompson, and we will
announce next steps on recruitment of a new Chair in due
course," the ministry said.
Thompson has been FRC CEO for less than a year. The FRC and
and Standard Life Aberdeen both declined to comment on Monday's
Sky report.
City of London financial sector veteran Skeoch has been an
FRC board member since 2012.
Skeoch would join at a time when the FRC is driving through
fundamental changes in the sector in response to corporate
collapses at builder Carillion and retailer BHS that raised
questions about auditing standards and the FRC's competence.
PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY, known as the Big Four, have been
told by the FRC to come up with plans by October 23 to ring
fence their auditing operations by June 2024.
Britain is due to propose legislation to replace the FRC
with a more powerful Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority.
(Reporting by Huw Jones;
Editing by Alexander Smith)