You can’t blame Prudential chief Mike Wells for wanting to leave. Nor his temporary replacement Mark FitzPatrick for turning down the permanent job.
With comically bad timing, the £34bn FTSE insurer is preparing to move its centre of gravity even further east to Asia where the core of its operations are in zero-Covid Hong Kong. Pity the poor soul tasked with spearheading that corporate “pivot”.
Though the Pru hasn’t said explicitly where its next boss will be based, all bets are on a further shift to the former British colony, from where most of its senior management operate already.
Surely it’s the opposite of what the company should be doing? Never mind Project Fear’s warnings of London losing its status as a global financial centre, it is Hong Kong that is on the brink of collapse.
As the rest of the world accelerates out of corona-clampdown purgatory, Hong Kong, now firmly in the grip of authoritarian China, continues to go in the opposite direction with devastating consequences for its future as a serious international business hub.
With the zero-Covid zealots…
