Shriti Vadera, the chairwoman of the Prudential, is under pressure amid a weakened share price, claims of a messy succession process to replace group chief executive Mike Wells and allegations about her conduct towards staff, which she denies, according to a report in The Sunday Times on 13 March.
The former Treasury mandarin took over at the Prudential in January last year as the executive team was pushing through the final stages of a restructuring of the business to focus solely on Asia and North Africa.
A Ugandan-born British investment banker, Vadera (pictured) joined the board in May 2020. Until September 2009, she was a government minister jointly for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office.
International Investment reported that Wells was to retire at the end of March after seven years in the role, with his replacement still to be recruited, and based in Asia.
In a statement on 10 February, Prudential said Wells had led its transformation into an Asia and Africa focused business, having executed two strategic demergers and accelerated the development of an Asian shareholder base through a successful equity issuance on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The Sunday Times said sources had revealed it was known for a year or more that Mike Wells would leave when the process was largely completed this year.
But no successor has been found and the Prudential will have acting chief executive Mark FitzPatrick, the finance director, when Wells retires.
