20th May 2005 07:00
Prudential PLC20 May 2005 Embargo: 07.00 Friday 20 May 2005 CITIC Prudential awarded life insurance licence for eighth Chinese city Prudential plc (Prudential) announced that its life insurance joint venture,CITIC Prudential Life, has been awarded a life insurance licence for Zhongshan,in Guangdong Province in Southern China. This new licence continues CITICPrudential's well planned expansion into the rapidly growing Chinese lifeinsurance market. Prudential is now the only European life insurance jointventure with licences for eight Chinese cities. Situated in the Pearl River Delta in the economically significant GuangdongProvince, Zhongshan is conveniently situated between Guangzhou and Hong Kong.The city has a population of over 2.5 million and in 2004 the GDP of Zhongshanwas £3.6 billion, an increase of 19 per cent over the previous year. Mark Norbom, Chief Executive, Prudential Corporation Asia, said, "This latestlicence for Zhongshan highlights the strong momentum our business hasestablished. With the support of our partner CITIC, we look forward to this paceof expansion continuing." Captain Chia, CEO China CITIC Prudential Life added, "With offices in Guangzhou,Dongguan, Foshan and now Zhongshan, CITIC Prudential has established a powerfulpresence in Southern China. I look forward to leveraging this strong presence aswe continue to expand our life insurance business across all of China. " In 2000 CITIC Prudential opened its Guangzhou branch and in August 2003 itsBeijing branch was opened. In September 2004 CITIC Prudential Suzhou commencedoperation and in November 2004 CITIC Prudential received a life insurancelicence for Shanghai. In February 2005 CITIC Prudential received licences fornew life insurance operations in Dongguan and Foshan and in March it received anadditional licence for the city of Wuhan. The Zhongshan licence is CITICPrudential's eighth and the operation is expected to open by the end of May2005. CITIC Prudential now has a network of over 8,000 staff and agents inChina. Enquiries Media Investors / analysts Clare Staley 020 7548 3719 Marina Lee-Steere 020 7548 3511 Joanne Davidson 020 7548 3708 About Prudential Prudential plc is a leading international financial services group, providingretail financial services and fund management in its chosen markets: the UnitedKingdom, the United States, Asia and continental Europe. Prudential has been writing life insurance in the United Kingdom for over 150years and has had the largest long-term fund in the United Kingdom for over acentury. Today, Prudential has over 18 million customers worldwide and over £187billion (as of 31 December 2004) of funds under management. In the United Kingdom Prudential is a leading life and pensions provideroffering a range of retail financial products. M&G is Prudential's UK &European Fund Manager, with around £126 billion of funds under management (asof 31 December 2004). Jackson National Life, acquired by Prudential in 1986, isa leading provider of long-term savings and retirement products to retail andinstitutional customers throughout the United States. Egg plc, in whichPrudential has a 78 per cent shareholding, provides banking, insurance andinvestment products through its internet site www.egg.com. Prudential is the leading European-based life insurer in Asia with operations in12 countries. *Prudential plc, a company incorporated and with its principal place of businessin the United Kingdom, and its affiliated companies constitute one of theworld's leading financial services groups. It provides insurance and financialservices directly and through its subsidiaries and affiliates throughout theworld. It has been in existence for over 150 years and has over £187 billion inassets under management, (as of 31 December 2004). Prudential plc is notaffiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc, a company whoseprincipal place of business is in the United States of America. About CITIC Group (China International Trust and Investment Corporation) CITIC was established on October 4 1979 by Rong Yiren. The creation of CITIC wasinitiated and approved by Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China's reform. CITIC is a window on the way China has opened to the outside world. Since itsinception, CITIC has always adhered to the principle of innovation. In line withgovernment laws, regulations and policies, CITIC has attracted and utilisedforeign capital, introduced advanced technologies, and adopted advanced andscientific international practices in operations and management. CITIC hasestablished successful, strong performing businesses in many fields. As aresult, CITIC has made significant contributions to the country's reform andopening up drive and has improved China's reputation both domestically andabroad. CITIC has grown into a large multinational conglomerate. It now owns 44subsidiaries in countries including Hong Kong, the United States, Canada,Australia and New Zealand. The company has also set up representative offices inTokyo, New York and Frankfurt. CITIC's core business ranges from financialservices to service industries. By the end of 2003, CITIC had total assets ofover RMB 596 billion (£39 billion) This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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