Prudential CFO James Turner resigns after conduct probe

Prudential said on Wednesday that chief financial officer James Turner has resigned due to an investigation into his conduct relating to "a recent recruitment situation".

The insurer said Turner had fallen short of the "high standards" the group sets itself "on this occasion".

Prudential gave no details of the incident but said it has no implications on the group’s financial performance, reporting or operations.

The company, which has appointed Ben Bulmer to replace Turner, said the latter will remain available to it for four months to support a smooth transition.

Prudential said that Bulmer, who is currently the CFO of insurance and asset management, would bring much experience to his new role. He has extensive experience of the group, having served in a variety of leadership positions across the finance function in Asia and London since joining in 1997.

Bulmer will become a member of the Group Executive Committee, reporting to chief executive Anil Wadhwani, and will continue to be based in Hong Kong.

Wadhwani said: "Ben is a highly experienced finance leader who has developed a deep understanding of our business and markets during his 26 years at Prudential, including in his role as chief financial officer at Prudential Hong Kong's Life Insurance businesses and in central finance roles in the group.

"Our Code of Conduct sets out that we expect all our colleagues to adhere to the highest professional standards and behaviours. On behalf of the board, I would like to extend our gratitude to James for his twelve years of contribution to the business and wish him well for the future."

At 0920 BST, the shares were down 2% at 1,102.50p.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Losing a finance director on the grounds of misconduct is never likely to do much for market confidence and it’s therefore no surprise to see Prudential trading lower today.

"The insurer didn’t provide much, if any, detail on the nature of the behaviour which led to James Turner’s dismissal although an insistence there were no implications for the group’s financial performance or reporting was probably enough to prevent a bigger sell-off in the shares."