Bonds and Net boost Pru

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

The name is Bond - Prudence Bond. That is what happy sales teams at Prudential Corporation are saying today after new group chief executive Jonathan Bloomer announced insurance and investment premiums up 61% for last year.

The main driver in the UK was sales by independent financial advisers, up 76%, and their favourite product is the with-profits Prudence Bond, on the books for six years.

By this summer Prudential's Egg bank should have signed up its millionth customer. By the end of 1999 it had 800,000 clients depositing £7.6 billion. Main growth is coming via the Internet, where 175 , 000 customers joined.

But the recovery in Asian economies sent sales there quadrupling to £288 million. India alone had sales of £582 million against £72 million for seven months in 1998. And sales of the group's US variable annuity have doubled to £1 billion. Said Bloomer: 'Prudential's new business figures represent another very strong performance with a record £18 billion inflow.'

Meanwhile, however the Pru is cutting its salesforce by around 400 this year in its bid to increase productivity. Reductions would be brought through 'the natural course of people leaving' rather than redundancies or payoffs, a spokesman said.

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