Pru bosses defiant after deal collapse

Chairman Harvey McGrath said that the board was "completely behind" the current management including new chief executive Tidjane Thiam.

He also called the investors calling for change "outliers", with most major shareholders backing the current board.

The bid for AIA foundered earlier this week after AIG refused to renegotiate the price - leaving the Pru with a 450m bill and Mr Thiam's Asian strategy in ruins.

Mr Thiam said it was a "fallacy" to link his failure to land the AIA deal with his ability to run the business.

"To say I'm inexperienced in running a 35 billion dollar transaction, that's true. Not many have experience of running a 35 billion transaction," he said.