Prudential Plc : Everything you need to know

Prudential Plc: Everything you need to know

About Prudential Plc
Prudential is an international life insurance and financial services firm that provides long-term savings and protection products to its customers, including life insurance, accident and health insurance, property and casualty insurance, and fixed and variable annuities. Its services include equity plans, personal and group pensions, mortgages, and deposit accounts.

The company holds headquarters in London and Hong Kong and has 34 life businesses across 23 markets. These are served by more than 530,000 agents, 170 bank partners, and 27,000 bank branches.

Prudential is focused on opportunities in emerging markets in Asia and Africa, where it has been providing financial security services to more than 19.3 million customers.

Eastspring Investments (Eastspring), the asset management arm of the group, is a global asset manager focused on Asia, offering investment solutions to meet the financial needs of clients. Operating in the region since 1994, Eastspring has built an unparalleled on-the-ground presence in 11 Asian markets, as well as distribution offices in North America and Europe. Beyond investing, Eastspring aims to help its stakeholders secure a better and more sustainable future.

History of Prudential
Prudential was founded in May 1848 in London under the name “The Prudential Mutual Assurance Investment and Loan Association.” It was established to offer life insurance and loans to the middle class in the UK.

In 1854, Prudential launched an industrial department to sell industrial insurance to the working class. It also developed a system for providing insurance to the industrial sector based on door-to-door agents supported by actuarial tables, efficient administration, and sound investment. Over the years, the company has extended its products and services to various markets worldwide.

In 2009, Prudential launched Prudential Al-Wara’ Asset Management Berhad, its first dedicated Islamic asset-management business. In 2010, it partnered with United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) to distribute its life insurance products through the bank’s branches across Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand.

In 2012, Prudential launched Eastspring Investments, an asset management business. It entered the African life insurance industry by acquiring companies in Ghana and Kenya in 2014 and completed its demerger of M&G plc in 2019.

In 2020, Prudential acquired a bancassurance partnership in Thailand from FWD Group Ltd. in a US$753 million deal and established a joint venture asset management firm in Beijing.

Leadership at Prudential

Anil Wadhwani – Chief Executive Officer
Wadhwani was appointed to the board and as CEO of Prudential Plc in February 2023. He has more than three decades of experience in the global financial services industry, particularly in Asia where he has held leadership roles in some of the world’s largest companies.

Prior to joining Prudential, Wadhwani was CEO of Manulife’s Asia region. He also spent more than two decades with Citi in the Asia-Pacific region, EMEA, and the US, holding various consumer financial services roles. 

Culture at Prudential
Chairman’s Challenge is Prudential’s international volunteering programme in which Prudential employees donate their time and skills to support global charity partners, including Junior Achievement, Plan International, and Help Age International.

In 2020, Chairman’s Challenge partnered with the Prudence Foundation to create a $2.5 million group-wide COVID-19 relief fund, which would be distributed worldwide to help charities and community projects in addressing the impacts of the pandemic.

Aside from the volunteering programme, Prudential has a community investment policy that requires its business units to develop and adopt a community investment strategy using the following standards:

• The strategy must focus on social and welfare, education, and cultural activities.
• The business unit must take into account the economic, cultural, and social needs and sensitivities of local communities.
• The business unit is allowed to use cash contributions, cash-in-kind contributions, or voluntary time commitment.
• The business unit must encourage its employees to become involved in community investment programmes.
• The business unit must ensure that its partnering charities and organisations comply with their legal duties.
• It is necessary to establish adequate safeguarding policies, measures, and procedures to protect employees, beneficiaries, and partners.
• Appropriate skills should be transferred to partnering charities and organisations to help expand their capabilities.
• The strategy should take into account its impact on Prudential’s reputation.

Prudential is also committed to addressing climate-related risks to develop long-term value for its customers, shareholders, and local communities.

In 2021, the group announced plans to decarbonise its portfolio of assets held on behalf of its insurance subsidiaries, with a new goal of becoming a net-zero firm by 2050.

The pledge is aligned to the Paris Agreement, which invites parties to commit to holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The group recognises that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.

Prudential is taking immediate actions to help deliver on its ambitious longer-term objective. These include:

• A 25% reduction in the carbon emissions of all shareholder and policyholder assets by 2025
• Divestment from all direct investments in businesses, which derive more than 30% of their income from coal, with equities to be fully divested by the end of 2021 and fixed-income assets by the end of 2022
• A commitment to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy by engaging with the companies responsible for 65% of the emissions in our portfolio