UK PRU AND WINTERTHUR POISED TO ANNOUNCE INNOVATIVE LINK-UP

UK Prudential is expected to announce a joint venture shortly that will see the transfer of its general insurance division to Credit Suisse-owned insurer Winterthur, the Financial Times reports. The deal, which is thought to be worth up to £450m in cash to UK Prudential, will see Winterthur assuming responsibility for administering the UK Pru division and all its staff, while the UK insurer will continue to provide and develop the insurance products. The model is based upon a five-year agreement reached in July between Winterthur’s UK-based direct writer Churchill and Australia’s AMP for Churchill to become the insurance provider for AMP’s UK general insurance operation, Pearl (IFD : July 10). Mark Wood, who was recently installed as chief executive of Prudential’s UK and European operations, is thought to have wanted to offload the group’s general insurance arm as he considered it too small to make a meaningful contribution to Prudential’s overall financial position. The transfer of the division is understood to result from a three-month strategic review embarked on shortly after Mr Wood joined the group in June.