Tidjane Thiam of the Prudential displays thick hide

Tidjane Thiam of the Prudential: trousering 7.8m for 2012. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe

Last year the insurance group Prudential hired an African elephant called Mala to front a new set of adverts. They were designed to encourage "more open discussion about saving for retirement" as – the company explained in case anybody missed the metaphor – a reluctance to explore the topic was the equivalent of a member of Mala's species showing up in your kitchen.

Customers never forget being taken for fools like that, but – luckily for companies – shareholders often do. That's why, despite what is likely to be a noticeable media scrum, there is not likely to be a massive vote against the amounts that Pru boss Tidjane Thiam is squirrelling away himself, when he and his board front the company's annual meeting this week.

To recap, the problem is this: Thiam was personally censured in March by the then Financial Services Authority – and the Pru fined 30m – for not being "open" with the watchdog over a planned 21bn takeover.

It is practically unprecedented for a chief executive to be reprimanded like this, but no matter. Days later it emerged that Thiam would be trousering 7.8m in 2012 – including 4.4m from the long-term incentive plan. His response? He doesn't set his own pay. Who says it's just customers ducking tricky conversations?

Betfair's sure thing

Here's a sure bet. Monday will see some sort of announcement on the potential takeover of FTSE 250 gambling group Betfair.

OK – that may not be the most sensational betting tip you've ever received in your life, but it has the quality of being almost certain to come true.

The story so far is that Betfair received an 880p-a-share bid from private equity group CVC last month, but was told by the betting exchange's board to go away and have another go. Monday is the deadline for them to do that or walk away – and as the latter option would mean the whole thing has been a total waste of everyone's time, most of the money is being punted on an increased bid.

The shares closed on Friday at 898p, their highest price for more than a year and a clear sign that the City expects CVC to return with extra cash. Those who observe these matters reckon that the favourite outcome is for CVC to make a second tilt at north of 950p.

There are all sorts of permutations here, not least that founders Ed Wray and Andrew "Bert" Black – who still own 19% of the company – could retain their shares in a company CVC takes private. Developing…

Another knight leaves the field

Suddenly, everybody's talking about one thing: what will be the legacy of the old knight who's led his team for so long it's a struggle to recall who came before, now he's trotting off the field?

Not Sir Alex Ferguson, obviously, as we already know everyone outside Liverpool will be lauding him for years. Of more interest is how we'll assess Sir Mervyn King's decade as governor of the Bank of England once he's left to spend more time watching Aston Villa in the Premier League (probably).

King will be giving his final post-match interview this week when he is rolled out for the quarterly inflation report, which he traditionally uses to tell us all by how much the bank got its last guess on price rises wrong.

But however much King wants to focus on that issue, he's bound to face questions on his imminent departure, as there is still space to fill in the commemorative King newspaper pull-outs debating the significance of his packed trophy cabinet (14 letters to the chancellor explaining why the inflation target was missed; one financial crisis overlooked; plus – possibly – a great depression averted). Still, one part of the legacy is secure. No matter who invokes football to make finance seem interesting, King will remain peerless. In terms of the City sporting metaphor, he'll always be in the Fergie class.