Wadhwani named CEO of British insurance firm Prudential
ANIL WADHWANI, 53, who was previously the president and CEO of Canadian insurer Manulife Asia, will take charge of the Prudential in late February 2023. This move cements the FTSE 100 company’s swing to the Asian market as Wadhwani will run the business from Hong Kong alongside the rest of the team.
Previously, all the chief executives had been based in London.
Indian-born Wadhwani was educated in Mumbai and spent five years with Manulife in Hong Kong, where the group directly competed with the Pru. Prior to this, he spent 25 years at Citigroup, focusing primarily on the American bank’s Asiafocused consumer business.
The Pru was founded in London in 1848 before expanding overseas, opening a life branch in India in 1923, before building business in Singapore, Nairobi and Johannesburg in the 1930s.
Outgoing chief executive Mike Wells stepped down from the post in March this year after seven years with the company. He drove the Pru’s pivot towards the Asian and African markets, spinning the UK and European businesses into Londonlisted M&G in 2019. He also demerged its American arm, Jackson, onto the US market last year.
The Pru’s lead regulator changed from the Bank of England to the Hong Kong Insurance Authority in 2019 and the company has primary listings in both Hong Kong and London. Head office functions are also split between the two locations.
With its finance chief and chief risk officer both based in Hong Kong, the company said in February that Wells’ successor would also be based there. Baroness Shriti Vadera, the Pru’s chairwoman expressed delight at Wadhwani’s appointment.
“The board is delighted to appoint
Anil following our thorough succession process and the move of the entire senior management team to Asia,” she said. Baroness Vadera also added that this would lead to the Pru’s bosses, lead regulator and operations being “geographically aligned.”
However the news of the appointment saw the Pru’s shares fall 21¼p,
or 2.1 per cent, to 987¼p. Jefferies analysts expressed that they were “somewhat disappointed,” by the extended transition period until Wadhwani’s arrival next year. The Pru’s being run in the interim period by former finance chief Mark FitzPatrick from London, he will step down once Wadhwani takes up his post.