The Prudential Onshore Portfolio Bond has been launched in partnership with True Potential Wealth Platform, and aims to combine the fund choice of a platform with the taxation benefits of an investment wrapper.
Michael Leahy, managing director of Prudential International Assurance and Platforms, said the company launched the onshore version of the Dublin-domiciled product first because it would have been harder to enter the “crowded” offshore market.
The company said the product is aimed at clients investing lump sums while looking for medium to long-term growth, and hopes to provide advisers with “efficiency” by removing the replication of effort they previously experienced when having to write bond business “off-platform”.
Leahy said the company is using the new product to bring together the strong demand for bonds and clients currently prevalent in the market.
“This product combines Prudential’s investment bond expertise and the business efficiency of platforms, making it an attractive proposition to both advisers and clients,” he added.
When asked if Prudential planned on introducing its own platform, Leahy said it did not see such a move as a “viable business option”, adding that the company instead saw platforms as a “route into the market”.
In August, Prudential announced that it had seen a growth of 57% in offshore bond sales over the first half of 2014.
As a group, the company also saw increases across the board, with operating profit growing by 17% to reach £1.5bn and new business profit rising by nearly 25% to reach £1bn.
