Prudential, the second largest insurance company in the UK has taken the decision to replace Jonathan Bloomer, group CEO for the last five years, after a turbulent 12 months which has brought much criticism. Mark Tucker, currently group finance director at HBOS, will take over as group chief executive.
Despite contributing significantly to the growth of the insurance titan, Bloomer will depart under a cloud after a difficult past 12 months. Bloomer failed to find a buyer for the loss making Egg business a year ago, while more recently his GBP1 billion rights issue to fuel an ambitious expansion drew a great deal of criticism.
Mr Tucker previously worked for Prudential from 1986 to 2003. He was an executive director of Prudential from 1999 to 2003 and chief executive of Prudential Corporation Asia from 1993 to 2003. In this role he developed and implemented the strategy that transformed Prudential’s business in Asia to become one of the top two international life insurance groups in the region.
Sir David Clementi, chairman of Prudential, said: Mark’s background and experience mean that he is well suited to lead Prudential to the next stage in the group’s development. He has broad and relevant experience of the financial services market in our three key regions supported by a track record of success in growing profitable businesses for Prudential. We are delighted to be welcoming him back.