Soft yen cited as cause of first-quarter losses for Prudential

The company took a pre-tax charge of approximately $1.5 billion from net changes in value relating to foreign currency exchange rates and changes in market value of derivatives.

A weakening of the Japanese yen in relation to the U.S. dollar and certain other currencies was cited as the reason for the net loss of $988 million ($2.09 per common share) of financial services businesses attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc., the company reported.

The company took a pre-tax charge of approximately $1.5 billion from net changes in value relating to foreign currency exchange rates and changes in market value of derivatives. The currency-driven value changes were largely offset by corresponding adjustments to accumulated other comprehensive income which are not reflected in net income or loss.

After-tax adjusted operating income for Prudential’s Financial Services Businesses was $741 million, or $1.56 per Common share, compared to $1.62 per Common share for year-ago quarter. In other items from Prudential’s quarterly report:

  • Individual annuities: Account values reach $124.1 billion at March 31, up 9% from a year earlier; gross sales for the quarter of $5.0 billion; net sales $3.2 billion.
  • Retirement accounts: Values reach $239.8 billion at March 31, up 12% from a year earlier; total retirement gross deposits and sales of $9.0 billion and net additions of $404 million for the quarter.
  • Individual Life annualized new business premiums of $79 million, up 22% from a year ago.
  • Assets under management: $636.8 billion at March 31, up 12% from a year earlier; net institutional additions for the quarter, excluding money market activity, $5.4 billion.
  • Group insurance: annualized new business premiums of $313 million, compared to $500 million a year ago.
  • International insurance: constant dollar basis annualized new business premiums of $819 million, up 24% from a year ago.

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