She will take up the new role from 1 October subject to regulatory approval.

The retail & savings division includes M&G Wealth and the heritage business, which includes Prudential-branded operations in the UK and Europe.

In her new role she will lead the expansion of M&G Wealth in the UK, the company says.

M&G has already invested significant sums in M&G Wealth which last month acquired financial advisory group Sandringham Financial Partners for an undisclosed sum. The deal added £2.5 billion of assets under advice to M&G as well as 180 Sandringham advising partners and more than 10,000 individual clients.

Apart from expanding M&G Wealth, Ms Bousfield will also complete the transformation of the Prudential-branded operations to, “improve customer outcomes and generate business efficiencies.”

She will hand over her responsibilities as chief financial officer to deputy CFO, Paul Cooper, who will act on an interim basis while M&G conducts a search for a replacement. Due to the expected time commitments she will  step down from the M&G plc board. 

Ms Bousfield joined the Prudential group in November 2016 as CEO of the Prudential Assurance Company. She was previously CFO at insurer Aegon. She is also a non-executive director of RSA Group.

John Foley, M&G chief executive, said: "Clare is the ideal leader to bring fresh impetus to this part of our business, given her financial insight, knowledge of the operations and strong relationships."

"This appointment and a number of other leadership changes I am making today position us well for the next phase of M&G's ambitions and our strategy to return to sustainable growth."

M&G has 5m retail customers and £370 billion of assets under management and administration.

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