Ernst & Young chairman Jan Nooitgedagt, who is set to take over as CFO at insurance group Aegon in April, has stepped down from the accountants group to avoid a conflict of interest issue, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

Ernst & Young is Aegon’s house accountants, and the appointment has been criticised by corporate governance experts. The decision to step down early was reached after talks with the financial services authority AFM, the paper says.
‘We are in the middle of a credit crisis partly caused by accountants… This appointment is sailing very close to the wind,’ former European chief internal auditor Jules Muis told the paper.