Golden hello for new man at the Pru

PRUDENTIAL'S new chief executive Mark Tucker is to receive a golden hello of almost £500,000.

Tucker, who was poached from his position as finance director at retail bank HBOS earlier this year, will be paid a special guaranteed bonus of £475,000, which the Prudential declared is a 'one-off'.

The insurance giant said it was making the payment to Tucker, who began work on 6 May, to compensate him for share options he was awarded while at HBOS. Prudential had declined to buy out any of these options, which were potentially worth up to £1.3m.

Tucker, 47, worked at the Pru between 1986 and 2003 and was in the running for the top job in 2000 when Jonathan Bloomer was made chief executive. Bloomer was ousted in March and departed at the annual meeting last month with a £1.6m pay-off.

Having spent less than two years at HBOS, Tucker had still collected options over 156,206 shares which, assuming the group hit performance targets, he would have been able to cash in next year. His basic salary at the Pru is £780,000, slightly more than he was paid at HBOS. It could almost double depending on performance-related bonuses.

Tucker will also have a flat in London-paid for by the Pru while he and his wife hunt for a house to move into from their home in Edinburgh. His contract states that Prudential will pay 'reasonable costs for the executive and his family at a suitable location for his normal place of work... until 30 April 2006'. He is also entitled to 'reasonable relocation costs'.