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LONDON (Reuters) - Aviva's UK head Patrick Snowball is to quit the firm at the end of June, months after being overlooked for the group's chief executive post.

Snowball, a plain-speaking former soldier who joined Aviva's Norwich Union unit in 1989 and steered Aviva's 2005 acquisition of motor services group RAC, was beaten to the top job by finance director Andrew Moss, who will replace Richard Harvey this summer.

Aviva's (AV.L: Quote, Profile , Research) announcement of Snowball's departure on Monday confirms what a source familiar with the situation had previously told Reuters.

"This move doesn't really come as a surprise. It was expected from the moment it was announced he'd lost out to Moss in the CEO race," said Raghu Hariharan, analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton.

"In terms of share price reaction it's probably neutral to slightly negative as Patrick was doing a great job in reducing costs, which have been a problem at Aviva for quite some time," said Hariharan. "In that sense it's a loss for the group."

Snowball will become deputy chairman of Towergate Partnership, a fast-growing UK non-life insurance intermediary with sales of over 1 billion pounds, which is a business partner of Norwich Union, Aviva said. Continued...

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