The London-headquartered insurer said the APE sales had driven new business profit in the region to jump over the period by 24%, to £967m ($1,461m, €1,366m).
New business performance benefitted from an ongoing focus on regular premium business, which increased by 31% in the first nine months and accounted for 92% of APE sales.
“We have seen excellent progress in the agency channel, with APE sales up 30% year-to-date and double-digit growth in eight out of the twelve countries in which we operate. Within the bancassurance channel our five largest relationships, which account for over 90% of total bancassurance volumes, have delivered combined APE sales growth of 17%”, it said.
In the discrete third quarter, APE sales remained strong, increasing 20% to £655m, despite what it described as “significant levels of turbulence in investment markets during the period”.
Hong Kong stands out
Hong Kong in particular stood out with APE sales growth of 89% compared to the same combined quarters in 2014, from £424m to £802m on an actual exchange rate basis.
This reflected continued strong momentum in the agency channel, driven by increased manpower and improvements in activity and productivity, it said.
“We are also seeing good growth in the distribution of our products in the bancassurance channel through our relationship with Standard Chartered Bank and higher sales through the broker channel.”
The insurer also said that the long-term drivers of its business in Hong Kong were broad-based, with more significant sales of protection business adding to growth in its “established par products and strong demand from both our domestic and on-shore Mainland Chinese customers”.
China grows market share
In China, APE sales rose by nearly a third (32%) in the year-to-date though growth in the third quarter was lower, at 4%, which it said “principally reflects a marked slowdown in single premium bancassurance sales amid volatility in the domestic stock markets”.
But in Indonesia, the macro-economic and political environment remained challenging, and included slower-than-expected progress in government reform initiatives which
“This continues to suppress consumer sentiment, which is making it more difficult for our agents to close sales. Consequently year-to-date APE sales are 3% lower than the prior year.”
Singapore disappoints, others show growth
In Singapore, total APE sales were impacted by lower average case sizes combined with the impact of prior year contributions from bancassurance relationships with Maybank and Singpost that were discontinued in 2014. This resulted in a 14% decline in the first nine months.
Elsewhere, Malaysia showed year-to-date APE sales up 18% on last year, with Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam showing respective rises of 29%, 19% and 34%.
The big picture, and UK results
Mike Wells, group chief executive, said: “Prudential has continued to make good progress in the third quarter, with new business profit for the first nine months of 2015 of £1,764m, up 13% on a constant exchange rate basis (up 17% on an actual exchange rate basis). This performance reflects strong growth in our Asian and UK life operations and continued new business discipline in the US, reinforcing the diverse and resilient nature of our business during a period of significant global instability.”
He added that for UK life business, new business profit increased by 16% to £231m in the first nine months of the year, “reflecting our proactive response to the changes brought about by pension freedom reforms”, while the retail business saw APE sales 26% higher, driven by PruFund APE sales up 84%.
M&G sees outflows
Global funds group M&G suffered a 5% fall in third party funds under management at £127.3bn, reflecting retail net outflows.
This was “mainly reflecting softer consumer sentiment on fixed income assets” said Wells.
