Aviva boss quits amid pay criticism

Andrew Moss, who has been chief executive since 2007, will leave after more than half of shareholder votes failed to back the firm’s remuneration report at its annual meeting last week, which was widely seen as a criticism of Mr Moss’s performance.

The Oxford graduate offered to waive a near-five per cent pay rise which would have taken his annual salary over the £1m mark but this was not enough to appease investors, who have been hit by a 30 per cent drop in the share price in the last year.

The 54-year-old, who has worked for Lloyd’s of London and HSBC, leaves after two other chief executives, David Brennan at AstraZeneca and Trinity Mirror’s Sly Bailey, stepped down amid increasing shareholder discontent.

Mr Moss will be replaced on an interim basis by incoming chairman John McFarlane, who will become executive deputy chairman with immediate effect and executive chairman from July 1.