Tidjane Thiam an executive director, sitting on the plc board. In January 2007, after Richard Harvey announced he would step down as chief executive of Aviva, Thiam was tipped as a possible future head of the group. Thiam left Aviva in September 2007 to become chief financial officer of Prudential plc. In March 2009, Thiam was named chief executive, effective from October, after Mark Tucker chose to step down. The appointment made him the first African to lead a FTSE 100 listed company. His departure from the role was announced on 10 March 2015. After he became chief executive, Prudential launched a
Financial services in China Financial services in China Financial services in China refers to the services provided in China by the finance industry: banks, investment banks, insurance companies, credit card companies, consumer finance companies, government sponsored enterprises, and stock brokerages. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has required since 2004 that newly appointed CEOs, deputy CEOs, and heads of supervisory boards at locally incorporated securities firms all pass a Chinese language ability examination in order to take up their posts. In 2007, for example, Goldman Sachs partner Richard Ong was denied permission to take the job of CEO at Beijing joint venture Goldman Sachs