RSA Group, the FTSE 100 insurer, will be appointing KPMG as its new auditor after five years with rival Big Four firm Deloitte.
Increased regulatory scrutiny of the audit market may have played a factor in RSA’s decision, as potential conflict of interests was cited in its statement published today:
‘We intend to recommend to shareholders that they appoint KPMG as auditors for 2013. This follows the impending appointment of our current auditors, Deloitte, to undertake additional consultancy work in Scandinavia which we and they felt could impair the perception of their independence’.
The Competition Commission began an inquiry into the dominance of the Big Four in the market in 2012, and will announce its provisional findings shortly.
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