FTSE 100 chief executives leave jobs earlier than elsewhere

The survey by Cantos showed that David Prosser of Legal and General heads the financial services longevity poll at 10.7 years, followed by Charles Brady of Amvescap at 10.2 years.

Both are still far from matching the staying power of Sir Kenneth Morrison of Wm Morrison Supermarkets, who at 34.6 years has been going longer than the head of any other FTSE 100 company.

Financial services chiefs were well represented at the other end of the table, with Michael Dobson at Schroders and Jim Sutcliffe at Old Mutual coming in at just over six months each, slightly longer than Mervyn Davies at Standard Chartered. Richard Pym at Alliance and Leicester has been in his post for 30 days.

John Viney, European chairman of the headhunting firm Heidrick & Struggles, said the average length of tenure of chief executives had been declining for 20 years. He said this was partly because they were often asked to do the impossible with companies that were in the wrong markets or were the wrong size.