Former Bank of England contender Vadera to chair Prudential

LONDON (Reuters) - British insurer Prudential <PRU.L> on Thursday named Shriti Vadera, a possible former contender to replace Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England, as an eventual successor to Chairman Paul Manduca.

Vadera, currently chairwoman of Santander UK Group <SAN.MC> and senior independent director at mining giant BHP Group <BHP.AX> <BHP.L>, will join Prudential on May 1 as a non-executive director before replacing Manduca on Jan. 1, 2021, Prudential said in a statement.

Manduca has been Prudential's chairman since 2012.

Vadera was touted as one of several candidates for the Bank of England's top job, which will now be taken by Andrew Bailey, former head of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority.

"Shriti Vadera was the unanimous choice of the board following a rigorous assessment of external and internal candidates from around the world," said Prudential's Philip Remnant, the director who led the process.

Vadera, previously a British government minister, will step down from Santander and BHP, Prudential said.

Prudential split its UK and European business into a separate company, M&G <MNG.L>, in October and is focusing on Asia, its fastest-growing region.

(This story refiles to remove extra word in paragraph two)

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru and Carolyn Cohn in London; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and David Goodman)