UK insurer Prudential to locate next CEO in Asia as part of transformation

Prudential has transformed itself into an insurer and asset manager focused on Asia and Africa under outgoing CEO Mike Wells

Hong Kong is Prudential’s largest market, home to many of its senior managers

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Published: 9:30pm, 10 Feb 2022Updated: 9:38pm, 10 Feb 2022

Prudential, the biggest UK insurer by market value, said it plans to place its next CEO in Asia when Mike Wells, its top executive, retires in March, the latest step in its transformation and greater reliance on the region.

Since becoming CEO in 2015, Wells has shifted the London-based company’s focus to primarily providing life and health insurance and asset management services in Asia and Africa, spinning off its UK and European retirement business in 2019 and its US retirement arm last year. He first joined the company in 1995.

“Given Prudential’s focus on the growth markets of Asia and Africa, the board has decided with this managed transition of the leadership structure, that the roles of the group CEO and the group CFO will be based in Asia, where Prudential’s largest businesses, the group regulator and the rest of the senior management team are located,” the company said in a statement.

Hong Kong is Prudential’s largest market, with about 1,500 employees. The company also has dual primary listings in both London and Hong Kong, and many of its senior managers are located in the city.

In February 2020, activist investor Third Point urged the insurer to move its headquarters to Hong Kong. In September 2021, the insurer raised HK$18.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) from a share placement in Hong Kong to repay older debt and fund its global expansion.

Shares of Prudential rose 0.4 per cent to close at HK$131.70 in Hong Kong on Thursday.

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