By Gina Lee

China plans to make it easier for foreign life insurers to make controlling acquisitions and large equity investments in domestic peers, five people with knowledge of the matter said, as the country pushes ahead in opening up its financial sector. The plan being drafted by the sector regulator is also part of Beijing's efforts to bolster the capital levels of small and mid-sized local players, sources said, amid concerns about the impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on their financial foundations. The new rules for the world's third-largest insurance market after the United States and Japan - worth about $318 billion in premiums according to a Swiss Re Institute report - are likely to be finalised in the second half of the year, sources said.

Hedge fund Third Point said on Thursday that it shifted much of its capital into credit investments after panic selling sparked by the coronavirus outbreak took a toll on its stock-heavy fund, with one of its portfolios losing 16% in the first quarter. The firm, run by billionaire investor Daniel Loeb, told clients in a letter seen by Reuters that it invested $2.2 billion in structured and corporate credit securities in mid-March, essentially doubling its exposure. Third Point, which had $16 billion under management at the end of December, said it had not adequately prepared for a possible full-blown pandemic and was caught flat-footed when the world was essentially shut down to blunt the virus' spread.

Prudential (PRU) agreed to sell its South Korea-based insurance arm to KB Financial for $1.9 billion.

(Bloomberg) -- U.K.-listed banks with heavy exposure to Hong Kong slipped as China’s attempt to tighten its grip on the city fueled a political backlash.HSBC Holdings Plc dropped as much as 6.5%, the most in about seven weeks, while rival lender Standard Chartered Plc declined 4.7%. Insurer Prudential Plc tumbled 9.8%, its biggest fall in more than two months, before paring losses along with the banks.China confirmed on Friday that it would effectively bypass the city’s legislature to implement national security laws. The announcement triggered immediate calls for fresh protests and sent the MSCI Hong Kong index to its worst loss since 2008.“China’s latest move is damaging to gross domestic product, sentiment, loan growth and Hong Kong’s status as a global financial destination,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jonathan Tyce said in written comments. HSBC and Standard Chartered each derive a quarter of their revenue from Hong Kong, and “far more” of their pretax profits, he added.Banks operating in Hong Kong, as well as luxury-goods makers, have been volatile since the final quarter of 2019 as protests gripped the city, sending it into recession. The global spread of Covid-19 spurred share plunges in 2020.Prudential, which has seen its shares plunge 28% year-to-date, is also highly exposed to the former British colony. Hong Kong accounted for 23% of the London-based company’s adjusted operating profit in Asia in 2019, more than any other market in the continent, according to the group’s annual report.And it wasn’t just European financials dropping on the Hong Kong developments, as luxury-goods makers that are dependent on sales in the city also slipped. Cartier watch-maker Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA and Gucci-owner Kering SA fell as much as 4.1% and 2.3% in Zurich and Paris, respectively.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

By Gina Lee

The global insurance industry could lose more than $200 billion as a result of coronavirus, according to centuries-old insurance market Lloyd’s of London.

By Gina Lee

Shares in Prudential fell on Thursday as the coronavirus pandemic hit its Asia sales and it warned of challenging times ahead, while sources told Reuters the insurer's U.S. unit was for sale. Prudential's main businesses are in Asia and the United States after it spun off its British unit last year. Asian annual premium equivalent sales fell 24% in the first quarter to $986 million, with a 50% drop in Hong Kong and 19% in China, although Prudential said there were signs the sales environment was beginning to normalise in China.

British stocks joined a global rout on Thursday, leading to the worst single-day percentage drop since 1987 on concerns the global economy will seize up.

By Gina Lee

Prudential announced plans to float a minority stake in its U.S. insurer Jackson National Life, bowing to pressure from activist investor Dan Loeb, who has called for the company to split itself up.

Coronavirus is probably the 1 concern in investors' minds right now. It should be. On February 27th we published an article with the title Recession is Imminent: We Need A Travel Ban NOW. We predicted that a US recession is imminent and US stocks will go down by at least 20% in the next 3-6 […]

For many investors, the main point of stock picking is to generate higher returns than the overall market. But its...

Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Prudential (LON:PRU) share price has dived 49% in the last thirty days...

European stock markets headed lower on Friday, erasing meagre gains for the week, as more companies flagged a hit to business from the coronavirus pandemic, foreshadowing a deeper earnings recession ahead of the reporting season. The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.2% at 0705 GMT, with energy stocks tracking a slide in oil prices as investors grew doubtful about a Saudi-Russia deal that U.S. President Donald Trump said he had brokered. Zurich Insurance Group AG, AXA SA, Munich Re and Prudential fell between 1.9% and 4.2% after the European Union's insurance regulator asked insurers and reinsurers to temporarily suspend dividends and share buybacks.

Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has completed a periodic review of the ratings of Prudential Plc and other ratings that are associated with the same analytical unit. The review was conducted through a portfolio review in which Moody's reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology(ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers.

In 2015 Mike Wells was appointed CEO of Prudential plc (LON:PRU). This analysis aims first to contrast CEO...

Jackson National Life Insurance Company® (Jackson®) today announced its full-year financial results, generating $3 billion in IFRS pre-tax operating income2 in 2019, an increase of 22 percent over 2018 and the highest in company history. Jackson also reported $22.2 billion in total sales and deposits, noting significant growth in fixed and fixed index annuity sales.

U.K. stocks skidded lower on Thursday on worries markets have climbed too quickly in the face of the coronavirus pandemic still keeping most economies shut.