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Insurer warns of difficult times

Date: Thu, 17 Apr 03 Analysis

The Prudential Insurance group has warned it faces a 'challenging' year ahead as its sales figures for the first three months of 2003 fell.

Overall group sales remained steady at around £7.7 billion, but insurance sales dropped by seven per cent, with the UK market alone witnessing a four per cent contraction.

Chief executive Jonathan Bloomer was quoted by the BBC explaining the company had encountered 'extremely difficult market conditions which we expect to remain challenging for many areas of our business throughout 2003'.

The announcement follows reports in yesterday's Guardian that the Prudential has failed to honour thousands of insurance quotes dating back only a couple of months.

It was accused of withdrawing a number of deals following unexpectedly high interest in its best-buy life insurance and critical illness policies, replacing them with higher rates, which were then applied retrospectively to thousands of applications agreed on the basis of earlier quotes.

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Endsleigh Insurance Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. This can be checked on the FSA Register by visiting its web site at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.
Endsleigh Insurance Services Limited. Company No: 856706 registered in England at Shurdington Road, Cheltenham Spa, Gloucestershire GL51 4UE.