Prudential, a provider of insurance and financial services, has appointed Peter O'Donnell as its new director of group finance.

Mr O’Donnell will join Prudential on May 6, 2008 and will report to Tidjane Thiam, CFO of the company. He has 20 years of insurance experience and joins Prudential from Royal & SunAlliance, where he is UK finance director.

Prior to Royal & SunAlliance, he worked for Aviva for 11 years, most recently at Aviva Life International as finance director, prior to which he held a number of senior finance roles in the UK businesses. Before working for Aviva, he was chief insurance accountant with Windsor Life Assurance and Aetna UK.

Mr Thiam said: Peter O’Donnell is an exceptionally high caliber appointment and a great addition to Prudential’s finance leadership team. He brings a proven depth of technical capability and finance leadership skills.