Prudential chief turns back on SocGen role

Prudential chief executive Tidjane Thiam will not be joining SocGen as a non-executive director amid strong shareholder anger at the proposed move.

Thiam had planned on taking up his role at the end of May but Prudential said in a stock market statement today its chief executive will not now be joining the French bank. The U-turn comes after shareholders reacted furiously to Thiam's decision to work for another company, at a time Prudential is trying to garner shareholder support for the largest rights issue in history to fund its acquisition of AIG's Asian business. The £23.3bn deal to buy AIA from AIG, which is owned by the US government, marks the largest insurance deal in history. Some shareholders, however, have expressed...