Prudential has been expanding into China for years, but Britain’s biggest insurer wants to keep the momentum going.
The company has a 50-50 joint venture with Chinese conglomerate Citic but is looking to further increase its presence in the Chinese market.
“We have licenses in about 70% of the economic footprint now with China, so our biggest challenge is growing into that footprint quickly,” Mike Wells, chief executive of Prudential, told CNBC.
“I think China’s not looking for a flood of foreign models, insurers and management teams in the market, but they are saying ‘we want the expertise, the products, the capabilities’.”
The move follows Beijing’s plan to lift the restriction of foreign ownership of life insurance companies to 51% with the eventuality of completely scrapping it in the future. A move that would allow companies like Prudential greater freedom of expansion in the Chinese landscape.
“You’re not going to succeed across Asia if you’re not successful in China,” Wells said.
In addition, there have been reports for a few months that Ping An, China’s most valuable insurer, is looking into buying Prudential’s business in Asia.
However, as of last month, Prudential’s Asia chief executive, Nic Nicandrou, said that no offered had been filed by the Chinese insurer.
Commenting on the possible offer, Wells said: “It’s not off the table but … our days are pretty full right now”.
