When Anil Wadhwani takes over as chief executive of Prudential next February, the FTSE 100 group will be unrecognisable from the storied British insurer that has traded from London for 174 years.
Having spent much of the last century growing into a major global financial services conglomerate, in the past three years Prudential has shed its European business, spun off its US operations and slashed its UK headquarters, relocating all of its senior management and operations to Hong Kong.
Its listing on the London Stock Exchange and UK domicile are the only remnants of its once-sprawling UK business. Now the £24bn life insurer is gambling the farm on mainland China, Hong Kong and south-east Asia, plus a small but growing bet on Africa.