Prudential Assurance Company
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Prudential was founded as The Prudential Investment, Loan and Assurance Association on 30 May 1848 in the premises of Messrs. Hanslip & Manning, solicitors, at 10 Hatton Garden, London. After establishing a strong position in the United Kingdom in 1921, Prudential sought expansions overseas by opening its first eastern operations in India in 1923. In Singapore, Prudential started out as an agent for fire insurance for the first seven years before it attained full branch status and operated as the Prudential Assurance Company in 1931.
Early History
When the company’s operations to full branch status, it issued its first life policy to Mr. Percy Robert Campbell. The policy was a 15-year with profits endowment assurance plan which matured in 1946 for a sum of $6,190. Prudential Singapore’s first branch manager was L.A. Williams, a man who had already gained a considerable amount of experience in insurance in Malaya. In its early years, the Chinese community was a key market for the company. One of the initial problems that the company faced was in the translation of its English name "Prudential" because there is no equivalent term in Chinese. The company eventually went by the name “glorious” in Mandarin. According to the Directory of Malaya, the Prudential Assurance Company was located at 17-18 Mercantile Bank Building in 1940. Prudential’s nine agents consisted of companies such as Alsagoff Ltd, Hooglandt & Co. and Taik Ho & Co.
Business was interrupted by the Japanese invasion in 1942. The branch manager, Williams and his assistant, T.C Hamlyn, were held as prisoners-of-war by the Japanese. Though Williams eventually recovered and returned to his post after a period of recuperation, Hamlyn died during the war. When the British forces returned to Singapore, Prudential had the challenging task of trading and reinstating its pre-war policies though premiums were not paid during the Japanese Occupation. Fortunately, most of the records had been preserved. In keeping with the company's practice of providing help to policyholders who suffered from misfortune, the company decided to allow the holders of policies in Singapore and Malaysia to renew their insurance and to receive its full benefits. Similarly, claims that arose during the war were met and this relieved policyholders and their dependants from financial embarrassment. This move boosted Prudential's reputation tremendously.
Despite that, life insurance was at its infancy in the 1950s. Most of the policies sold were endowment and whole life policies. At that time, a life policy for $15,000 or $20,000 was considered a large sum. While whole life policies were popular, endowment policies were becoming more popular. People were more interested in a life policy as an investment rather than as a protection for the family after death. Death was a subject that was rarely talked about so life insurance agents did not emphasise the benefits of a life insurance. Instead, focus was placed on the investment aspects of the policy. In the view of Roy Blyth, an expatriate who came to Singapore to work as a Manager for Prudential Life Insurance Company in the early 1950s, there was a mushrooming of many small companies in Singapore and Malaya in the late 1950s who attempted to do "life business". These "life companies" were issuing improper life policies, and various death benefits plans to the public which violated existing actuarial principles. This prompted the government to pass a stop-gap legislation in the 1960s which resulted in the enactment of the Insurance Act of Malaysia in 1963. The law also applied to Singapore as it was then part of Malaysia. Singapore later enacted a similar Act after its separation from Malaya. Comprehensive legislation in the form of the present Insurance Act was legislated later.
Later Developments
The outlook on the development of life assurance in Malaysia and Singapore in the late 1970s to early 1980s continued to be bright. Though, when compared to more highly developed and industralised nations, the percentage of the population of Malaysia and Singapore that owned any form of life assurance was still small; in the month of December 1979, a new Southeast Asian branch record was reached with new business totaling at $31.4 million or $35.7 million inclusive of term assurances. This was the highest production ever achieved in a single month and it brought the total sales for the year to almost $164 million. The increase for the year alone was 23% in basic new sums assured and 19% in new premium income. Prudential's position in the 1980s continued to look strong as it looked back on half a century of operations in 1981. Since then, some 90,000 life policies have been issued through the Southeast Asian branches which served the various life assurance needs of the citizens of Singapore and Malaysia. In the 1980s, economies of both countries were growing at a faster pace, personal incomes were rising and there was a steady increase of employment. Such factors created a favourable climate for the growth of the insurance industry.
Prudential continued to establish its presence in the insurance industry in the late 20th and early 21st century as it emerged as one of the top three insurance companies in Singapore. It is also an industry pioneer in many ways. For instance, it is the first insurer to introduce a comprehensive range of investment-linked funds, and has one of the largest investment-linked insurance funds in Singapore today. It is also the first to receive the National Productivity Award (1994), Singapore Quality Class certification (1997) and the first insurer in Singapore to receive the Asia's Life Insurance Company of the Year Award (2000).
Author
Kartini Saparudin
References
Directory of Malaya (1940). Commercial and miscellaneous Malaya [Microfilm: NL 3334 and NL 3335] (pp. 9, 153,189, 285, 346, 347, 363 and 366). Singapore: Lithographers.
(Call no.: RRARE 382.09595 DIR)
Directory of Malaya (1940). Alphabetical list of residents of Malaya [Microfilm: NL 3334 and NL 3335] (pp. 110, 111, 275 and 321). Singapore: Lithographers.
(Call no.: RRARE 382.09595 DIR)
The Prudential Assurance Company Limited South East Asia Branch. (1978, December). Manager's message. Prudential Bulletin. Singapore: The Prudential Assurance Co Ltd.
(Call no.: RSING 368.305 PB)
The Prudential Assurance Company Limited South East Asia Branch. (1979, December). Manager's message. Prudential Bulletin. Singapore: The Prudential Assurance Co Ltd.
(Call no.: RSING 368.305 PB)
The Prudential Assurance Company Limited South East Asia Branch. (1981, January). Half a century of service in South East Asia. Prudential Bulletin. Singapore: The Prudential Assurance Co Ltd.
(Call no.: RSING 368.305 PB)
Prudential Assurance Singapore (2007). About Us. Retrieved July 9, 2007, from http://www.prudential.com.sg/corporate_sg/index.jsp.
Singapore Insurance Training Centre. (1985) The Singapore insurance industry: Historical perspective, growth and future outlook. (pp.3-4.) Singapore: Singapore Insurance Training Centre.
(Call no.: RSING 368.95957 SIN)
The Singapore International Chamber of Commerce. (1979). From early days. (p. 151.) Singapore: The Chamber.
(Call no.: RSING 380.10655957 SIN)
The information in this article is as valid as at 2007 and correct as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
Subject
Organisations>>Companies
Insurance companies--Singapore
sash:Business, finance and industry>>Finance>>Insurance