The announcement was made on Tuesday by wealth manager St James's Place, who said Morrissey would step down from her role as a director at the company to avoid any conflict of interest.

Morrissey, one of the best known women in Britain's asset management industry, was previously chief executive of Newton Investment Management and was head of Legal & General Investment Management's personal investing business. She established the 30% club in 2010, which aims to ensure all boards of FTSE-100 companies are at least 30% female.

(Reporting by Rachel Armstrong; Editing by Tom Wilson)