(14 August 2009)

Tidjane Thiam will succeed Mark Tucker as Group Chief Executive of the Prudential Group from 1 October 2009, making history as the first black CEO of a FTSE 100 company. Thiam has been an executive director of Prudential and Chief Financial Officer since 25 March 2008 and was previously Chief Executive Officer, Europe at Aviva, where he also held successively the positions of Group Strategy and Development Director and Managing Director, Aviva International.

Prior to that, Tidjane was a partner with McKinsey & Company in France and one of the leaders of their Financial Institutions practice, focusing on insurance companies and banks. Earlier in his career, he spent a number of years in Africa where he was Chief Executive and then Chairman of the National Bureau for Technical Studies and Development in Cote d'Ivoire and a cabinet member as Minister of Planning and Development. He is a non-executive director of Arkema in France, a member of the Council of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London and a sponsor of Opportunity International, a charity focusing on microfinance in developing countries.

The announcement of his succession came as the Prudential published strong results for the insurance group, including a capital surplus estimated at £3.0 billion at 31 July 2009 and £2.5 billion at 30 June 2009 (before any allowance for 2009 interim dividend). The 2009 dividend rose by 5% to 6.29 pence per share.

Mark Tucker, Group Chief Executive said: "These results demonstrate a continuing strong performance by the Prudential Group in what remain challenging market conditions. As a result of the decision we took last year to focus on capital conservation and cash generation by concentrating on expanding sales in our most profitable product lines, we have been able to manage our investment in new business and improve our margins across the Group in the first six months of the year. Compared with the same period in 2008 our Group EEV New Business Profit increased 25 per cent to £691 million, and our Group IFRS statutory operating profit increased six per cent to £688 million."

"While we expect the business environment to remain difficult through the rest of 2009, Prudential is very well positioned to take advantage of any improvement in market conditions. Our Group-wide focus on long-term profitable growth remains unchanged and our combination of geographic diversification, advantaged distribution and flexible and full product range all mean we can focus on the most profitable opportunities, especially in the pre and post-retirement sector. Combined with our dynamic approach to risk management, this means we are well placed to continue to outperform over the economic and financial cycle."

"I am immensely proud to have served as Chief Executive of Prudential. I leave knowing that we have an excellent management team in place across the Group and I am confident that Tidjane will continue to lead the Group from strength to strength."