Prudential boss Mike Wells set to retire as British insurer moves top executives from London to Asia in management shake-up
- Mike Wells has led the firm for the past seven years through significant change
- The search is on for his replacement, who will be based in Asia with other execs
- Asia has become a growing focus for the firm and some fear it will exit the FTSE
Prudential is set for a major management shake-up, with the FTSE 100-listed insurer’s chief executive to retire and its top brass leaving London to set up a new base in Asia.
The British group informed investors its boss Mike Wells will retire after seven years at the helm at the end of March and will be replaced in the short-term by current finance chief Mark Fitzpatrick until a new chief executive is appointed.
Prudential, which provides health and life insurance, said Fitzpatrick has requested not to be considered for the top job on a permanent basis but he will assist whoever is appointed to ease the transition from Wells’ tenure.
Prudential has a 174-year history with its HQ in the City of London, but Asia has become an increasing focus for the insurer
The firm is currently conducting a search for a group chief executive to be based in Asia, where its financial officers will also be based. It is conducting the search internally and externally, Prudential said.
Outgoing Mike Wells recently assured investors that Prudential is here to stay on the FTSE
James Turner, Prudential’s chief risk and compliance officer will become the chief finance officer, succeeding Fitzpatrick, while Avnish Kalra, chief risk officer for Prudential’s Asian and African businesses, will succeed Turner.
Asia is a region of increasing focus for Prudential, following pressure from US activist investor Third Point, with its operations there based in Hong Kong.
Prudential now focuses only on Asian and African markets after offloading holdings in its US business Jackson last September, following spin-offs of its UK and European business, M&G, in 2019.
Hedge fund Third Point had asked the British insurer to break up into two businesses in 2020 to enable it to recruit top talent in Asia, where it has had a presence since the 1920s.
Third Point campaigned for Prudential to close its costly office in the UK, where it no longer sells products, and investors began to suspect that the firm would exit the FTSE for good.
However, outgoing boss Wells told the 40 per cent of Prudential shareholders who own its UK-listed stock in October that the firm is here to stay.
‘There are a lot of really good reasons to have a London listing – for one, we’ve got talent in London – and I wouldn’t see any benefit to losing a UK listing,’ Wells told The Mail on Sunday in a rare interview at the time.
‘To be clear, we have no work streams on relocating out of London, there is no present activity around that at all.
Prudential will publish its full-year results for 2021 on 9 March, and Wells will host a results conference call and meet with investors thereafter, the firm said.
The firm’s shares were trading 0.8 per cent higher by late morning on Thursday to 1247.5p. Prudential shares are down 3.7 per cent over one year and remain 16 per cent below their pre-pandemic 2020 peak
Chair of Prudential Shriti Vadera said Wells had ‘led the group through one of the most significant periods of change in its 174-year history’, having overseen two strategic demergers, an equity raise on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and ‘steering the group through the unprecedented events of the pandemic.
She added: ‘With the strategic positioning of the group complete, it can now take the next steps in the simplification of its management and operational model.’
Wells said: ‘It has been a privilege to serve Prudential for the last 26 years. Having led the transformation of the Group into an Asia and Africa focused life and health insurer, now is the right time for me to hand over to an Asian based team to take the company forward.’