The company, which has a presence in 12 countries across Asia, agreed to sell its life insurance subsidiary in Korea last week to Mirae Asset Life Insurance for KRW170bn (£119m, $148m, €134m) as a part of Prudential’s strategy to concentrate on markets that “generate attractive long-term returns” for its shareholders.
In recent years, it has been expanding into Asia in a bid to capitalise on the region’s burgeoning middle class.
Prudential said on Wednesday that its Asian business, which includes offices in Hong Kong and Singapore, contributed a third of the life insurer’s Q3 operating profit.
Asia life sales
New business profits in Asia soared by 23% to £1.3bn, driven by growth in life insurance sales.
In the first nine months, annual premium equivalent (APE) life sales in Asia rose by 16% year-on-year to £2.5bn, spurred by growth in regular premium sales, up 18%, which accounted for around 94% of the total increase.
The results follow an efficiency exercise to “drive value”, underpinned by growth in its health and protection units, where new business profit was up 27% in the period, said Prudential.
Overall new business profits for all regions stood at £1.9bn, up 19% on the £1.6bn reported the previous year, with Asia making up the bulk of profits at 44%.
During its half-year results announcement, Prudential said it was building its distribution footprint in Hong Kong to capture strong demand for its products at attractive margins, both from local customers and mainland China.
In Singapore and Indonesia, the company said it was managing volumes through product mix and agency actions, respectively, to protect and reinforce its longer-term positioning.
