FD as a potential scapegoat (again)

Big news over at Standard Life where it looks like FD Alison Reed could be on her way - as part of a wide-ranging management ouster. She's only been at the recently demutualised insurer for just over a year, and based on the press coverage, you have to wonder what she's been up to. "She was hired to help the insurer float on the stock market after unprecedented turmoil," argues the Guardian, "following rule changes by the Financial Services Authority two years ago, forced it to conclude it could no longer function as a mutual." But, er, surely former FD John Hylands was tasked specifically with the flotation project. Perhaps Reed has been characterised in this way to make a nice clean break for the business when she goes. If anyone argues about the way the demutualisation was handled, they can just point at her, Hylands (who was always going to leave after the float) and the other departing directors...