Comment: Prudential's new chairman Vadera gets more than a wooden spoon
Shriti Vadera doesn’t hang around. Just weeks after missing out in the race to replace Mark Carney at the Bank of England, here she is, scooping another of the top jobs in the City.
Chairing the Pru may not have the kudos of Threadneedle Street, but it’s hardly a wooden spoon.
The old Pru did the splits last year, hiving off its UK business (now called M&G) from the fast growing Asia-led overseas unit.
It’s that latter, sexier, chunk that Vadera will be chairing.
The timing could be better — a day after a profit collapse at Santander UK, where she’s also chairman. But the issues there are primarily PPI and a price war in mortgages — hardly her fault.
She’s done a steady job for the Spanish bank, as she has at mining giant BHP, another China-heavy blue chip, where she was the senior non-executive director managing the succession of the new chairman.
In short, she’s a decent hire. The fact she’s a woman (a non-white one to boot) is a bonus.
So, what’s in store for her at the Pru? Thankfully less than her predecessor Paul Manduca had on his plate when he started. Back then, the Pru was in turmoil after chief executive Tidjane Thiam’s failed AIA bid in Asia. The fix required an overhaul of governance and a new CEO followed by one of the biggest demergers of recent years.
But she will have to hire a new CEO at some stage, and fly the Pru flag in Asia, Africa and the US.
In hiring a Brit to the job, the company is signalling that that flag will be a Union Jack. So, no more chatter, please, that the Pru will be upping sticks to Asia.
