Prudential group chief executive, Mike Wells, said of the firm’s 2017 results: “‘The performance of our Asia business is testament to the strength, scale and diversity of our platform in the region, our focus on recurring premium health and protection business and the quality of our execution.
“In the US, our life business, Jackson, remains focused on meeting the retirement income needs of the growing numbers of baby boomer retirees and extending our products and reach to improve access to the large asset pools of the fee-based advisory market. Jackson delivered positive separate account net inflows of £3.5bn.”
Moving forward, Wells said the group’s strategy involves focusing on:
- the savings and protection needs of the fast-growing middle class in Asia;
- the retirement income needs of baby boomers in the US; and,
- the increasing demand for managed savings solutions among the ageing populations of the UK and Europe.
Premium growth
Life annual premium equivalent (APE) new business sales during the year were up 10%, year-on-year, across the globe during 2017.
Prudential’s Asia life businesses are driven by growth in its recurring premium case and focus on health and protection business, the firm said.
Elsewhere, Prudential said it is benefitting from its prioritisation of fee-based generating products across the group’s Asia asset management, US variable annuity and UK and European asset management activities.
During 2017, M&G Prudential delivered record levels of external asset under management (AUM) net inflows of £17.3bn, the company said. This compares with net outflows of £8.1bn in 2016.
This contributed to combined AUM of £351bn at 31 December 2017.
The group’s Asian asset management business, Eastspring Investments, reported AUM growth of 18% to £138.9bn. Prudential said that Eastspring is well-placed for the anticipated growth in Asia’s retail mutual fund market.
Eastspring reported external net inflows of £3.1bn for 2017, up from £1.8bn the previous year.
