Prudential plc has appointed Arijit Basu and Claudia Suessmuth-Dyckerhoff as non-executive directors of the business which offers life and health insurance and asset management in Asia and Africa.
Basu will join the board with effect from 1 September and will also join the audit committee and responsibility and sustainability working group.
Dr Suessmuth-Dyckerhoff’s appointment is subject to regulatory approval and the effective date of her appointment and any committee memberships will be confirmed in due course.
Basu has extensive experience in the banking and insurance industries in India. He was managing director and CEO of Indian life insurer, SBI Life Insurance Company, from 2014 until 2018 and took it public in 2017.
He has held senior positions at State Bank of India (SBI Bank) in a career spanning nearly 40 years. He is also a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the College of Supervisors established by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to advise the regulator on supervisory colleges.
Basu was appointed chairman of the board of HDB Financial Services in June 2021, a subsidiary of HDFC Bank and is a senior adviser to a number of firms, including Ares SSG, AZB & Partners and Deloitte Shared Services India.
In January 2021 he was appointed by the RBI as a member of its Academic Advisory Council and is also a director of Peerless Hospitex Hospital and Research Center Ltd.
Dr Suessmuth-Dyckerhoff has a deep and broad knowledge of the healthcare services sector and health technology across China and the broader Asia-Pacific region.
She has spent much of her career based in Shanghai and, more recently, in Hong Kong and has worked with healthcare providers, governments, insurers, pharmaceuticals and medical device companies.
She is currently a non-executive director of Ramsay Health Care, Clairant AG and Hoffman-La Roche, Huma Therapeutics and Quest Global Services Private and an adviser to Amoon Ventures Y.SH.
Shriti Vadera, chairwoman of Prudential, said: “I am delighted that we have been able to appoint two new non-executive directors with the knowledge and experience of insurance, health and technology in Asia that Claudia and Arijit bring.”