Philip Yea, the new chief executive of 3i, the UK private equity group, faces a run-in with the National Association of Pension Funds over his multiple directorships of quoted companies.

Yea, who starts work at 3i in July, is a non-executive director of HBOS, the banking group, and has been a board member of its Halifax subsidiary since 1999. He is also a non-executive director of Manchester United, the premiership football club. Both 3i and HBOS are members of the FTSE 100 index of leading British companies.