M&G Prudential has shaken up its senior management team once again by installing a chief investment officer as it readies itself to demerge from the wider insurance group.
Jack Daniels (pictured), currently CIO of Prudential UK and group treasurer for parent company Prudential, will be transferred into the newly created role, subject to regulatory approval.
The move comes as M&G Prudential looks to consolidate the various strands of its business under a single global investment management unit led by Daniels.
Daniels said the creation of a single business “will enhance the current collaboration” and “cohesion” between investment teams and provide the firm with “an efficient investment platform which can be scaled to match our growth ambitions”.
“For clients, it should improve access to our full range of capabilities, and lead to quicker product innovation and better service,” he added.
Senior role shuffle
As CIO of the united investment group, Daniels will replace the current joint-department leads Simon Pilcher and Graham Mason who are CEO of the institutional fixed income business and chief executive of equities, retail fixed income and multi-asset respectively.
Mason will remain with the firm and take on the newly created role of chief international officer for M&G Prudential, while Pilcher, who was also real estate chairman, will exit the firm entirely after assisting with the transition. William Nicoll will take over on the institutional fixed income unit and report to Daniels, who will cover the rest of Pilcher’s responsibilities.
Commenting on Pilcher’s departure the firm said: “Over the past two decades, Simon has built an outstanding business, powered by his passion for people and excellence in investment and client service. He goes with our great thanks and our best wishes for the future.”
Change to be expected
Tilney managing director Jason Hollands said changes around the senior management team are “entirely expected” ahead of the investment arm’s demerger from Prudential.
The biggest change to the business came when Anne Richards, who was head of investments at M&G, left in the middle of last year to become the boss of Fidelity International, a move which Hollands said, “looked unfortunate at the time”.
Daniels joins the existing C-suite, which includes chief executive John Foley and chief financial officer Clare Bousfield. Foley is still managing the investment business in Richards’ stead.
Daniels joined M&G in 2001 and went on to establish Prudential Capital, the in-house investment arm of Prudential which has £170bn of assets.
“Mr Daniels has been with the business for some time and the appointment of someone who has been closely involved with the insurance funds is understandable given the scale of these assets for the group,” said Hollands.
The combined M&G Prudential investment team currently has £341bn of total assets globally and houses the £109bn Prudential With-Profits Fund, M&G’s mutual fund brand and its institutional investment strategies.
Little noise on the demerger
Apart from updating the market with senior appointments “there has been very little noise” on the demerger, notes Adrian Lowcock, head of personal investing, Willis Owen. Prudential confirmed it plans to spin-out its UK investment and savings arm, creating two separate listed businesses, in March 2018.
“The demerger is a big piece of work and it will require a lot of thought, consideration and planning.” However, he added: “Splitting businesses up may seem harder than merging two businesses but there is a more established process which large companies can follow it just takes time.
M&G Prudential is expected to decouple from parent company Prudential at some point in the first half of 2020 although the firm has not set a definitive end-date.
