This article refers to Prudential plc, based in the United Kingdom. See Prudential Financial, Inc. for information about the American Newark, NJ based company
Prudential plc is a United Kingdom based financial services company. The company has around 20 million customers worldwide. As well as the UK arm of its operations it has operations in 12 countries in Asia and owns Jackson National Life in the U.S. It is also the majority stakeholder in the Egg Internet bank
Within the UK the company's business includes the sale of general insurance (household, car), pensions, annuities, savings and investments (bonds, ISAs). They are particularly well-known for the sale of with-profit bonds and pensions, corporate pension schemes, bulk annuities and individual annuities.
Management
There are currently 13 people on the board of directors. Key individuals are:
| Chairman of Board of Directors | David Clementi
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| Group Chief Executive | Jonathan Bloomer
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| Chief Financial Director | Philip Broadley
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| President & Chief Executive Officer for Jackson National Life | Clark Manning
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| Chief Executive of M&G | Michael McLintock
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| Chief Executive of Prudential Corporation Asia | Mark Norbom
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| Chief Executive of UK & European Insurance Operations | Mark Wood
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History
Prudential plc was founded 30 May, 1848 in Hatton Garden, London as The Prudential Mutual Assurance Investment and Loan Association. It began by providing loans to professionals secured through life assurance. The company became The Prudential Assurance Company in 1867 and a limited company in 1881 following the introduction of the Limited Liability Act 1880 and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1924.
In 1858 they began selling the relatively new concept of industrial branch insurance policies to the working class population for premiums as low as one penny through agents acting as door to door salesmen. This was a successful policy for Prudential at the time and despite competition from more established assurance companies the Prudential insured approximately one-third of the UK population in the early 1900s.
Prudential stayed focused on branch-based sales while the products shifted from traditional whole-of-life policies to group pensions and an increasing popularity of With Profits products. In recent years the Prudential has become concentrated in specialist areas, particularly With Profits and Annuities where it holds a significant market share. Its takeover of Scottish Amicable lead to a concentration in the Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) market and the reduction of the direct customer sales more attributed to the "man from the Pru" concept.
It restructured into a holding company called Prudential Corporation Plc in 1978 after the acquisition of Vanbrugh Life and M&G Reinsurance amongst others. On 1st October 1999 a name change resulted in Prudential Plc for ease of recognition and overseas expansion. In June 2000 the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange to help focus on the US market.
In 1997 Scottish Amicable was acquired after demutualisation. It was originally the West of Scotland Life Insurance Company and was founded in Glasgow, Scotland in 1826.
In addition to the original UK Business, Prudential Plc has four other Business Units:
Prudential is the largest UK life insurer in Asia and operates through Prudential Corporation Asia. It has had a presence in the continent since 1923 when an overseas agency for life insurance was created in India. Although this was subsequentially nationalised, Prudetial have recently relaunched in India as ICICI Prudential, a Joint Venture with ICICI Bank. As CITIC Prudential Life they were the first UK company to re-establish life business in China in 2000. There are also businesses in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
M&G a UK fund management company.
Jackson National Life was purchased in 1986. It was named after Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States of America and first started business in 1961 at Jackson, Michigan.
In 1998 Prudential set up Egg, an Internet bank within the UK. The subsidiary reached £5 billion in deposits and 500,000 customers within six months but did not reach profitability until the end of 2001. In June 2000 an initial public offering of 20% was made to allow for further growth of the company but a failed attempt to gain market share in France with the takeover of Zebank in 2002 led to a pull out in 2004 and a failed attempt by Prudential to sell the bank.
Prudential Assurance
Prudential Assurance Company Ltd, now part of Prudential Plc, was for many years the dominant life assurance company in the UK.
Prudential was founded on 30 May 1848 in Hatton Garden, London. The company’s registered name was “The Prudential Mutual Assurance Investment and Loan Association” and its purpose was to offer life assurance and loans to the middle classes. The firm built its early strength on a large direct sales force of agents who would visit clients in person to discuss their needs and to collect insurance premiums. The army of premium collection agents was for many many years identified with the Prudential as the "Man from the Pru".
Relative to the size of the UK economy and financial markets the firm became more influential than either the Prudential of America or Nissei (Nippon Life) in Japan. Today, Prudential is one of the top listed UK based life insurance companies with key businesses in the UK, US and Asia.
It was agents from the Pru who, on deciding to leave the Prudential and move to the United States, were given access to all the techniques of the firm to assist them in forming an insurance firm in America. That infant company went on to become Prudential of America, The Rock. There was never a significant ownership link between the two Prudential companies (one a listed firm in the UK and the Prudential of America a mutual company) although there is a memorandum of understanding about use of the Prudential name outside the United States.
See also
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