City grandee Sir Douglas Flint is to become chairman of Standard Life Aberdeen, the UK’s largest listed asset manager, ending a months-long search for a successor to Sir Gerry Grimstone.

Financial News first reported in April that Flint, who stepped down as chairman of HSBC in September 2017, was among a small list of candidates being approached for the role. That list also included Kevin Parry, the senior non-executive director at Standard Life Aberdeen, and Sir Paul Tucker, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England.