In one of his first public engagements, Thiam fielded questions from analysts as he detailed the first-quarter numbers in a conference call, which included a fair value drop of £459m at its US insurance arm Jackson’s.

Thiam weighed in at a time when the regime has been panned by insurers AIG and Axa. Some have demanded its suspension while the credit crisis is resolved.

‘We fair value the securities,’ said Thiam. ‘My predecessor Philip Broadley has made a number of public statements on that, which I’m very comfortable with.’

Broadley has historically backed fair value measurement. Under the demands of the controversial IAS39, Prudential’s US securities classed as ‘available for sale’ took a major hit in Q1 2008, but Thiam stood by the rule when asked about the volatility it caused.

He also refused to be drawn on other accountancy sticking points. ‘We’ve pretty much given our views across the standards and clearly support and follow them,’ Prudential chief exec Mark Tucker, told Accountancy Age.