The Group's half-year performance was again driven by its Asian business, which benefitted from high-quality recurring income.
Prudential, the U.K.'s biggest insurer, announced an operating profit of £2,024 million ($2,449 million) for the first half of 2019, an increase of 14 percent year-on-year, citing strong growth in its Asian business, the firm said in a news release.
These figures exclude its U.K.-focused fund and insurance business M&GPrudential, which CEO Mike Wells said is on track to be demerged by the end of the year.
According to the announcement, Prudential's Asia operating profit grew by 14 percent, while new business profit grew 10 percent The firm's Asian asset manager, Eastspring, grew its assets under management by 12 percent to £169.5 billion.
Asia Growth
«We are benefiting from growing demand for health, protection and savings across the region and we are constantly improving our access to this demand by innovating in new value-added services, distribution and digitalisation of the customer journey,» Wells said in the statement.
Since the start of 2018, Prudential has made a number of investments in its business in Asia, including the acquisition of 65 percent of Thailand's TMB Asset Management for £197 million, the renewal of a regional strategic bancassurance alliance with UOB for an initial fee of £662 million (£230 million of which was paid in the first half of 2019), and a total investment over this period of £738 million of free surplus in new business.
Prudential recently launched a holistic health management app, Pulse by Prudential, in Malaysia, and is planning a wider roll-out across the region shortly.
