Life insurer Prudential has made a senior hire in Asia Pacific, following two key appointments from the region earlier this year after refreshing its sustainability strategy in 2023.
To continue reading, subscribe to Eco‑Business.
There's something for everyone. We offer a range of subscription plans.
- Access our stories and receive our Insights Weekly newsletter with the free EB Member plan.
- Unlock unlimited access to our content and archive with EB Circle.
- Publish your content with EB Premium.
Zhi Ling Wong – who was with the British lender Standard Chartered Bank for over a decade – is Prudential’s new director of governance and controls, under the group’s sustainability team.
Wong said in a LinkedIn update that her role will involve “advancing sustainability governance” and working with local businesses to steer “transparency, accountability and preparedness in the face of an increasingly complex environmental, social and governance (ESG) regulatory landscape.”
Before departing Standard Chartered Bank in early September, Wong had helmed its reputation and sustainability risk frameworks team, where she oversaw the development of ESG risk management policies – which extended to greenwashing risks – in response to global regulations. She will continue to be based in Singapore.
In 2022, Prudential introduced the principle of double materiality as part of its risk taxonomy revamp, which recognises the company’s impact on the environment and society at large – not just how sustainability issues affect its financial performance – as a strategic risk.
As part of its new sustainability strategy unveiled last year, the insurance group – which has already pledged to become a net-zero asset owner by 2050 – committed to cut its weighted average carbon intensity by 55 per cent by 2030 as well as to roll out sustainability-linked key performance indicators for all managers by 2026.
El Lynn Yeoh, who was one of the two senior appointments made in the region earlier in February, left her new role as director of strategy and operations in May.
Yeoh has since been succeeded by Donna Buckland, who previously served in the office of the Prudential chair and as senior director, controllership of group finance in Hong Kong.
Earlier this month, Prudential also appointed Utako Saoshiro as the director of social sustainability – a role that chief sustainability officer Diana Guzman told Eco-Business she was looking to fill over half a year ago – to drive the company’s social impact strategy.
Saoshiro was formerly the lead for sustainable development investment partnership at the World Economic Forum and has worked for the International Finance Corporation, World Bank’s private sector arm.
Buckland, Saoshiro and Wong will report to Guzman.
The article has been updated to include responses from Prudential on other new appointments it recently made within its sustainability function and to more accurately describe Wong’s past responsibilities under Standard Chartered Bank.
