Four in 10 of the UK’s largest listed companies will be subjected to growing pressure to replace their chairman, with new rules on director independence sweeping out some of Britain’s longest-serving board members.

The corporate governance code, which UK public companies must follow or explain why they do not, was revamped at the start of the year and includes a requirement that chairs step down after serving on the board for nine years.Among the FTSE 350, there are 110 companies that are already non-compliant with the tenure provision, and 137 have chairs who have served on the board for more than eight years, according to Minerva Analytics, a governance consultancy formerly known as Manifest.

Source: Almost 40 per cent of UK chairmen face pressure to unseat them | Financial Times