Fund manager Robin Geffen has called for the resignation of Tidjane Thiam as chief executive of UK insurer Prudential, but other shareholders said they were unwilling to see any change in the company's top management ahead of its annual general meeting next week.

Geffen, chief executive of Neptune Investment Management and a critic of Prudential's bid for Asian insurer AIA, which the company formally abandoned this morning, expressed delight to hear market speculation that someone else - Mike McLintock, chief executive of M&G, the Pru's asset management arm - might be taking over from Thiam.