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Tidjane Thiam, the new man from the Pru, today positioned himself as the natural successor to chief executive Mark Tucker as he pledged to preserve the financial strength of the UK's biggest insurer.
Thiam takes over from Tucker next month. As chief financial officer he has already been heavily involved in Prudential's strategy and today made plain that the handover would not alter the insurer's focus on profit rather than new business sales.
“It was a pretty major career decision for me to come here,” said the former Ivory Coast minister. “I did my due diligence and I am very comfortable with our strategy. I don't expect any huge changes.”
He was speaking as Pru underlined its position as the strongest of the UK insurers. Regulators have been nervous that the raging financial turmoil of the last year could see a big insurer go bust.
In a show of confidence, Pru was today able to unveil half-year figures that feature a rise in the interim dividend payment. Rivals including Aviva have been forced to slash their divi to protect capital.
Prudential made profit for the six months to July of £688 million, up 6%. New business premiums fell 8% to £1.32 billion — a reflection of the plan to let market share fall if necessary.
“We are generating more profit with less capital. In these markets you want to protect the cash position of the group. Our target was to generate profits, so we really stayed away from capital intensive business,” he said.
Pru's surplus capital is now around £3 billion, before dividend costs of roughly £150 million.
The UK arm saw sales fall 14% to £376 million, a result that is likely to prompt further talk from City analysts that it should be sold — perhaps to Clive Cowdery's Resolution Life.
While declining to speculate specifically, Thiam pointed out that the UK arm is fundamental to determining the company's ratings. “The balance sheet strength rests on the UK,” he said.
Nevertheless, Thiam seems to agree with Cowdery's basic point — that the insurance sector is in need of some serious culling.
“Entire sections of the industry are not profitable. That can't go on forever,” he said.
Last year Tucker pondered a bid to buy up the Asian assets of collapsed US outfit AIG.
That deal seems to be off the table — perhaps under the advice of new chairman Harvey McGrath. Still, Asia remains a likely source of future growth. Profit in the region slipped 4% to £277 million in the first half but in general margins are improving.
Nic Nicandrou, also a former Aviva man, will step into Thiam's shoes as chief financial officer. In his swansong results statement, Tucker praised his successor. “I leave knowing that we have an excellent management team in place,” he said.
Prudential shares moved up 10.7p to 488.8p this morning.
The recent run in the share price is good news for investors including chairman McGrath. He spent £1 million on shares at 343p when he arrived at the company last October and is now comfortably in the money.
Ed Woolfitt, head of trading at Galvan Research, said: “The Prudential interim results could well provide further impetus for the markets over the summer. The Pru have actually taken a bold step by upping the halfway dividend to reassure investors. Given the current strength and resilience of the recovering markets, we believe the move will pay off, and enable the Pru to steal a march on its competitors.”
