Fidelity Investments' chairman of independent trustees is expected to resign if he is confirmed to succeed Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defence, as a spate of high-level departures continues to hit the fund manager's US and European operations.

Robert Gates, currently president of Texas A&M University, was nominated by president Bush the same day Rumsfeld announced he was leaving. A spokesman said Fidelity anticipates his nomination will be confirmed and the trustees will name a successor in due course.