Mike Wells (Photo: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg)
Market turmoil could make Prudential PLC change its strategy for getting outside cash into Jackson National Life Insurance Company.
The British Prudential has been talking about selling a minority stake in Jackson to investors, through a public stock offering.
Mike Wells, Prudential's group executive officer, now says that the economic uncertainty created by COVID-19 could force Prudential to be flexible about how it executes its corporate strategy.
The British Prudential, which is based in London and has no connection with Prudential Financial Inc. of Newark, New Jersey, has large operations in Asia.
The Prudential teams in Asia have already been living with the COVID-19 outbreak for several months, Wells says in the public message.
"They have been performing heroically, providing outstanding service to customers in a challenging environment," Wells says. "COVID-19 has now developed rapidly from a largely regional issue into a global pandemic. This means we are having to adapt further."
The Prudential teams in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Africa are now learning from the experience of their colleagues in Asia, Wells says.
Wells says that, in spite of all of the market volatility, Jackson's risk-based capital ratio has held steady.
