1848 Prudential was founded on 30 May 1848 in Hatton Garden, London. The company’s registered name was “The Prudential Mutual Assurance Investment and Loan Association” and its purpose was to offer life assurance and loans to the middle classes.
1854 After making small inroads into middle class business, Prudential took a daring step and opened the Industrial Department to sell a new type of insurance, Industrial Insurance, to the working (industrious) classes, for premiums of a penny and upwards. Prudential developed a new system for providing insurance to this market based on door to door agents supported by actuarial tables, sound investment and efficient administration. Watch the video
1856 Another innovation was the introduction of infantile insurance policies in 1856. The new product opened up a huge market for Prudential and the volume of sales began to grow dramatically.
1860 Prudential acquired its main rival “The British Industry Life Assurance Company” and the name changed to “The British Prudential Assurance Company”. With the British Industry came a large number of established customers and an experienced team of agents in the north of England.
1865 A further acquisition, of “The Consolidated Life Assurance Company” helped to establish Prudential as one of the leading life assurance companies in the 1860s. The name was further expanded to an unwieldy size, “The British Prudential and Consolidated Assurance Company” and was sensibly shortened to “The Prudential Assurance Company” in 1866.
1871 In order to keep up with the increasing administrative work generated by ever increasing volumes of new business Prudential began to employ lady clerks – an innovation in the City. Annual premium income had increased from £1,836 in 1851 to £52,009 in 1861 and £348,975 in 1871 – proof of phenomenal growth over two decades, based on the growth of industrial insurance.
1879 Prudential moved into Holborn Bars, a purpose built office designed by Alfred Waterhouse to reflect the company’s status as the largest life assurance company in Britain. Over the next twenty years the building was expanded to match the growth of the business and became a symbol of corporate strength and stability. Watch the video
1912 Social Welfare in Britain, so far provided for by private enterprise and charity, became a state responsibility for the first time with Lloyd George’s National Insurance Act. Sickness and unemployment benefits were paid through Approved Societies run by private companies. Prudential played a major role in the scheme with four Approved Societies and the provision of supplementary policies to members. By the time the scheme was abolished in 1948 – when the Welfare State was set up – 5 million people were receiving benefits through Prudential agents.
1913 The company installed Powers Samas punch card machines to cope with the volume of statistical and record work which followed the formation of the Prudential Approved Societies to administer the new National Health Insurance. By 1923, Prudential had the largest installation of punched card machines in the world, with over 150 punchers, sorters and tabulators, and in the years that followed, mechanised accounting became a familiar part of office practice. Watch the video
1919 Prudential moved in to the field of General Insurance for the first time. Through the General Branch all types of general insurance were sold – fire, marine, accident etc.
1920 An agency agreement in France in 1921 was the beginning of great overseas expansion. Throughout the 1920s agencies were set up world wide for general insurance, then in the 1930s overseas life branches were established. The first overseas life agency was in India in 1923, followed by overseas branches in Canada, Australia, Africa, the Near East and Malaya.
1926 Advertising began to be taken more seriously. The Publicity Department was set up to deal with ever increasing challenges from competitors and to publicise new products launched after the war: the Everywoman Policy for single women, the Heritage Policy for family protection and the Progressive Policy for Industrial Branch policyholders.
1929 Group Pensions was introduced as a new product following on from experience in providing Employers’ Liability Insurance.
1940 Chief Office staff were evacuated to Torquay and other regional centres during the Second World War.
1949 The ‘Man from the Pru’, a household phrase since the turn of the century, was launched as an advertising image to re-establish the identity of the agent in the post-war world. The image helped to re-brand the Industrial Branch as Home Service, providing the whole range of Prudential products to customers in their home and moving away from the 19th century focus on funeral benefits. Watch the video
1965 1,700 staff moved into Forbury House, the new Prudential building at Reading completing the transfer of Industrial Branch administration from London. Computer technology provided the ideal tool for processing vast numbers of policies, and two huge mainframe Orion computers, specially designed for Prudential, were up and running in the new computer suite at Holborn Bars by 1965.
1978 Prudential Corporation was formed as the holding company for a business that now included Vanbrugh Life, Prudential Property, Prudential Unit Trust Management and a holding in M&G Reinsurance, as well as The Prudential Assurance Company.
1982 PPM (Prudential Portfolio Managers) was set up to manage investments for the group and non-group customers.
1986 Acquisition of Jackson National Life in the US. In the same year, Prudence was relaunched as a modern brand image for the Corporation. The logo includes the mirror, arrow and serpent that date back to the Company’s 1848 seal and represents traditional values, but looks forward to the future. Watch the video
1999 Acquisition of M&G, pioneer of unit trusts in the UK and a leading provider of investment products.
2002 Prudential launches the Plan from the Pru in the UK with a major new advertising campaign illustrating the importance of financial planning at every stage of life.
2008 Prudential extends and expands its long-term bancassurance alliance with Standard Chartered Bank, now covering 10 markets in Asia.
2009 Prudential’s first dedicated Islamic asset-management business, Prudential Al-Wara’ Asset Management Berhad, launches in Malaysia.
2010 Prudential enters into a long-term strategic bancassurance partnership with United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) to distribute Prudential’s life insurance products through UOB’s bank branches across Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
2014 Prudential acquires businesses in Ghana and Kenya, marking its entrance into the fast-growing African life insurance industry.
2021 Prudential plc demerges its US business, Jackson, in order to focus on its Asia and Africa businesses.
2025 Prudential plc provides life and health insurance and asset management solutions to over 18 million customers across 20 markets in Asia and Africa. Our mission is to be the most trusted partner and protector for this generation and generations to come by providing simple and accessible financial and health solutions. We are headquartered in Hong Kong and have dual primary listings on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (2378) and the London Stock Exchange (PRU).
