British insurer Prudential is believed to be considering exiting the UK and moving its headquarters to Asia, prompted by upcoming stricter regulation.
According to the Sunday Times, the insurer is considering changing its UK-listed operations to a separate company or selling them altogether to ward off tougher Solvency II regulation coming into force next year. From January 2016, the new Solvency II rules will mean Prudential would need to hold more capital reserves than ever before to honour policyholder commitments in the event of a downturn. This could cause its reserves to fall from £9bn to £3bn to account for the extra costs, the paper reports, citing analysts. The firm already has a strong presence in Asia, with Hong Kong ...
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