UK insurer Prudential to keep its focus on Asia

Prudential, the British insurer with a focus on Asia, aims to double its operating profit from its businesses in the region over the next three years as the middle classes of Asia rise.

Britain's largest insurer by market value is also on track to reach its earlier goal of doubling its 2009 operating profit from its Asian businesses by this year. It announced its new goal last week when declaring a double-digit percentage increase in its interim dividend.

"Our growth strategy relies on the rising number of middle-class families in Asia that we can help to achieve long-term savings," Barry Stowe, the chief executive of Prudential Asia, told the . "Our fundamental tactic is to penetrate 13 Asian markets by a mix of insurance agency and bancassurance."

Stowe said the regional unit was in position to meet its earlier three-year target, set in 2010, because it needed to expand operating profit by just 6.7 per cent in the second half to meet it, after achieving 20 per cent growth in the first six months.

Stowe, who served as president of AIG's accident and health unit from 1995 to 2006 before he joined Prudential, stressed that face-to-face sales mattered to its business in Asia, even as consumers switched to other methods of buying insurance policies.

Insurance had a relatively low penetration rate in Southeast Asia, he said.