Standard Life CEO to join RBS board

LONDON (Reuters) - Sir Sandy Crombie, the chief executive of insurer Standard Life (SL.L), is to join the board of part-nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), the Daily Telegraph reported without citing sources.

Crombie will become the RBS's senior independent director, tasked with liaising between the bank and its biggest shareholders, who include the state with a 70 percent stake, the paper said.

RBS declined to comment.

In March, Standard Life said it would start looking for a successor to Crombie this year, but did not set a timeframe for a handover.

Crombie, who turned 60 earlier this year, has led Standard Life since March 2006, overseeing the group's conversion from a customer-owned mutual to a publicly listed company in July of the same year.

RBS is reconstituting its board after surrendering majority control to the government in return for a 20 billion pound emergency cash injection last October.

Crombie will take up his new role in July, the Daily Telegraph said.

(Reporting by Myles Neligan; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)