Ex-HSBC chair Flint heads to Standard Life Aberdeen

By Sangameswaran S and Simon Jessop

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest listed investment manager Standard Life Aberdeen said on Tuesday it had appointed Douglas Flint, former chairman of HSBC, to lead its board from January.

Flint will succeed Gerry Grimstone whose 11-year stint as chairman was crowned by Standard Life's takeover of Aberdeen Asset Management, but which has been marred recently by a tussle with Lloyds Banking Group over a 109 billion pounds investment mandate.

Standard Life (SLA) announced in February that Grimstone would stand down as chairman next year.

Flint joins as a non-executive director and chairman designate on Nov. 1 and will take over the reins from Grimstone on Jan. 1, subject to regulatory approval.

"We undertook a rigorous and comprehensive international search to identify Sir Gerry's successor and we are very pleased that Sir Douglas will join the Board and become its chairman," Simon Troughton and Melanie Gee, co-chairs of SLA's appointments committee, said in a statement.

"His passion for our company, his strong track record as chairman and his international experience make him an ideal candidate to lead the Board as we continue to build our global investment business."

($1 = 0.7848 pounds)

(Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Susan Fenton)