Prudential's UK man is on his way after missing out

Nick Prettejohn today quit as head of Prudential's UK business after failing to win the job of overall chief executive.

Pru chose finance director Tidjane Thiam for the top job in March, leaving former Lloyd's of London boss Prettejohn the bridesmaid.

He is thought to have notified the board of his intention to quit soon after.

Rob Devey has been hired from Lloyds Banking Group, where he held a number of top positions, to replace Prettejohn.

His contract appears to be less lucrative than Prettejohn's, giving him the ability to earn a maximum of £2.53 million in salary, bonus and long-term incentive plan payments, as opposed to Prettejohn's £3.05 million.

Analysts said this reflected the fact that Devey did not have as big a reputation as City big-gun Prettejohn, who oversaw a tough transformation at Lloyd's before being hired to restructure Pru's UK operations.

This he did by selling the large general insurance arm to focus Pru's UK operations on more-profitable savings and retirement products.

Devey has run large operations within the Lloyds and HBOS organisations, including leading HBOS's general insurance division, which employs about 4000 compared with Pru UK's 2500.