10-K 1 d10k.htm FORM 10-K Form 10-K
Table of Contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 


 

FORM 10-K

(MARK ONE)

x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2004

 

OR

 

¨ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM              TO             

 

COMMISSION FILE NUMBER 001-16707

 


 

Prudential Financial, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

 

New Jersey

(State or Other Jurisdiction

of Incorporation or Organization)

 

22-3703799

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification Number)

 

751 Broad Street

Newark, New Jersey 07102

(973) 802-6000

(Address and Telephone Number of Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices)

 

SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OF THE ACT:

 

Title of Each Class


 

Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered


Common Stock, Par Value $.01

(including Shareholder Protection Rights)

  New York Stock Exchange

 

SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(g) OF THE ACT: NONE

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes x No ¨

 

As of June 30, 2004, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s Common Stock (par value $0.01) held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $24.21 billion and 521 million shares of the Common Stock were outstanding. As of February 28, 2005, 524 million shares of the registrant’s Common Stock (par value $0.01) were outstanding. As of June 30, 2004, and February 28, 2005, 2 million shares of the registrant’s Class B Stock, for which there is no established public trading market, were outstanding and held by non-affiliates of the registrant.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

 

THE INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE FURNISHED PURSUANT TO PART III OF THIS FORM 10-K IS SET FORTH IN, AND IS HEREBY INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE HEREIN FROM, THE REGISTRANT’S DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS TO BE HELD ON JUNE 7, 2005, TO BE FILED BY THE REGISTRANT WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION PURSUANT TO REGULATION 14A NOT LATER THAN 120 DAYS AFTER THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2004.

 



Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

               Page
Number


PART I

  

Item 1.

   Business    1
    

Item 1A.

   Executive Officers of the Registrant    35
    

Item 2.

   Properties    36
    

Item 3.

   Legal Proceedings    37
    

Item 4.

   Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders    40

PART II

  

Item 5.

   Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities    40
    

Item 6.

   Selected Financial Data    44
    

Item 7.

   Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations    47
    

Item 7A.

   Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk    121
    

Item 8.

   Financial Statements and Supplementary Data    126
    

Item 9.

   Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure    219
    

Item 9A.

   Controls and Procedures    219
    

Item 9B.

   Other Information    219

PART III

  

Item 10.

   Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant    219
    

Item 11.

   Executive Compensation    220
    

Item 12.

   Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters    220
    

Item 13.

   Certain Relationships and Related Transactions    220
    

Item 14.

   Principal Accounting Fees and Services    220

PART IV

  

Item 15.

   Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules    220

SIGNATURES

   234

Forward-Looking Statements

    

 

Some of the statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including but not limited to those in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “includes,” “plans,” “assumes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” “should,” “will,” “shall” or variations of such words are generally part of forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made based on management’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects upon Prudential Financial, Inc. and its subsidiaries. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Prudential Financial, Inc. and its subsidiaries will be those anticipated by management. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and there are certain important factors that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from expectations or estimates reflected in such forward-looking statements, including, among others: (1) general economic, market and political conditions, including the performance of financial markets and interest rate fluctuations; (2) domestic or international military or terrorist activities or conflicts; (3) volatility in the securities markets; (4) fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and foreign securities markets; (5) regulatory or legislative changes, including changes in tax law; (6) changes in statutory or U.S. GAAP accounting principles, practices or policies; (7) differences between actual experience regarding mortality, morbidity, persistency, surrender experience, interest rates, or market returns and the assumptions we use in pricing our products, establishing liabilities and reserves or for other purposes; (8) reestimates of our reserves for future policy benefits and claims; (9) changes in our assumptions related to deferred policy acquisition costs; (10) events resulting in catastrophic loss of life; (11) investment losses and defaults; (12) changes in our claims-paying or credit ratings; (13) competition in our product lines and for personnel; (14) economic, political, currency and other risks relating to our international operations; (15) Prudential Financial, Inc.’s primary reliance, as a holding company, on dividends or distributions from its subsidiaries to meet debt payment obligations and the applicable regulatory restrictions on the ability of the subsidiaries to pay such dividends or distributions; (16) risks due to the lack of legal separation between our Financial Services Businesses and our Closed Block Business; (17) adverse determinations in litigation or regulatory matters and our exposure to contingent liabilities; and (18) the effects of acquisitions, divestitures and restructurings, including possible difficulties in integrating and realizing the projected results of acquisitions. Prudential Financial, Inc. does not intend, and is under no obligation, to update any particular forward-looking statement included in this document.

 

i


Table of Contents

Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, “Prudential Financial” and the “Registrant” refer to Prudential Financial, Inc., the ultimate holding company for all of our companies. “Prudential Insurance” refers to The Prudential Insurance Company of America, before and after its demutualization on December 18, 2001. “Prudential,” the “Company,” “we” and “our” refer to our consolidated operations before and after demutualization.

 

PART I

 

ITEM 1.    BUSINESS

 

Overview

 

Prudential Financial, Inc. is one of the largest financial services companies in the United States. Through our subsidiaries and affiliates, we offer a wide array of financial products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement-related services and administration, asset management, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage and relocation services, and, through a joint venture, securities brokerage. We provide these products and services to individual and institutional customers in the U.S. and approximately 30 other countries through one of the largest distribution networks in the financial services industry. Our principal executive offices are located in Newark, New Jersey.

 

The businesses of Prudential Financial are separated into the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business. The Financial Services Businesses is comprised of our Insurance, Investment and International Insurance and Investments divisions and our Corporate and Other operations. The Closed Block Business comprises the assets and related liabilities of the Closed Block described below and certain related assets and liabilities.

 

Prudential Financial has two classes of common stock outstanding. The Common Stock, which is publicly traded (NYSE:PRU), reflects the performance of the Financial Services Businesses, while the Class B Stock, which was issued through a private placement and does not trade on any exchange, reflects the performance of the Closed Block Business.

 

Demutualization and Separation of the Businesses

 

Demutualization

 

On December 18, 2001, our date of demutualization, Prudential Insurance converted from a mutual life insurance company owned by its policyholders to a stock life insurance company and became an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial. The demutualization was carried out under Prudential Insurance’s Plan of Reorganization, dated as of December 15, 2000, as amended, which we refer to as the Plan of Reorganization. On the date of demutualization, eligible policyholders, as defined in the Plan of Reorganization, received shares of Prudential Financial’s Common Stock or the right to receive cash or policy credits, which are increases in policy values or increases in other policy benefits, upon the extinguishment of all membership interests in Prudential Insurance.

 

On the date of demutualization, Prudential Financial completed an initial public offering of its Common Stock, as well as the sale of shares of Class B Stock, a separate class of common stock, through a private placement. In addition, on the date of demutualization, Prudential Holdings, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial that owns the capital stock of Prudential Insurance, issued $1.75 billion in senior secured notes, which we refer to as the IHC debt. A portion of the IHC debt was insured by a bond insurer. Concurrent with the demutualization, various subsidiaries of Prudential Insurance were reorganized, becoming direct or indirect subsidiaries of Prudential Financial.

 

The Plan of Reorganization required us to establish and operate a regulatory mechanism known as the Closed Block. The Closed Block is designed generally to provide for the reasonable expectations of holders of participating individual life insurance policies and annuities included in the Closed Block for future policy dividends after demutualization by allocating assets that will be used for payment of benefits, including policyholder dividends, on these policies. See Note 9 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for more information on the Closed Block. The Plan of Reorganization provided that Prudential Insurance may, with the prior consent of the New Jersey Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, enter into agreements to transfer to a third party all or any part of the risks under the Closed Block policies. As of December 31, 2004, we had entered into reinsurance agreements covering approximately 70% of the Closed Block policies.

 

1


Table of Contents

Separation of the Businesses

 

The businesses of Prudential Financial are separated into the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business. For a discussion of the operating results of the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” The Financial Services Businesses comprises our Insurance division, Investment division, and International Insurance and Investments division as well as our Corporate and Other operations. See “—Financial Services Businesses” below for a more detailed discussion of the divisions comprising the Financial Services Businesses. The Closed Block Business comprises the assets and related liabilities of the Closed Block and certain other assets and liabilities, including the IHC debt. See “—Closed Block Business” below for a more detailed discussion of the Closed Block Business. We refer to the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business collectively as the Businesses.

 

The following diagram reflects the allocation of Prudential Financial’s consolidated assets and liabilities between the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business:

 

LOGO

 

There is no legal separation of the two Businesses. The foregoing allocation of assets and liabilities does not require Prudential Financial, Prudential Insurance, any of their subsidiaries or the Closed Block to transfer any specific assets or liabilities to a new legal entity. Financial results of the Closed Block Business, including debt service on the IHC debt, will affect Prudential Financial’s consolidated results of operations, financial position and borrowing costs. In addition, any net losses of the Closed Block Business, and any dividends or distributions on, or repurchases of, the Class B Stock, will reduce the assets of Prudential Financial legally available for dividends on the Common Stock. Accordingly, you should read the financial information for the Financial Services Businesses together with the consolidated financial information of Prudential Financial.

 

The Common Stock reflects the performance of the Financial Services Businesses and the Class B Stock reflects the performance of the Closed Block Business. However, there can be no assurance that the market value of the Common Stock will reflect solely the performance of the Financial Services Businesses.

 

In order to separately reflect the financial performance of the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business since the date of demutualization, we have allocated all our assets and liabilities and earnings between the two Businesses, and we account for them as if they were separate legal entities. All assets and liabilities of Prudential Financial and its subsidiaries not included in the Closed Block Business constitute the assets and liabilities of the Financial Services Businesses. Assets and liabilities allocated to the Closed Block Business are those that we consider appropriate to operate that Business. The Closed Block Business consists principally of:

 

    within Prudential Insurance, the Closed Block Assets, Surplus and Related Assets (see below), deferred policy acquisition costs and other assets in respect of the policies included in the Closed Block and, with respect to liabilities, the Closed Block Liabilities;

 

2


Table of Contents
    within Prudential Holdings, LLC, the principal amount of the IHC debt, related unamortized debt issuance costs and hedging activities, and a guaranteed investment contract; and

 

    within Prudential Financial, dividends received from Prudential Holdings, LLC, and reinvestment proceeds thereof, and other liabilities of Prudential Financial, in each case as attributable to the Closed Block Business.

 

The Closed Block Assets consist of (1) those assets initially allocated to the Closed Block including fixed maturities, equity securities, commercial loans and other long- and short-term investments, (2) cash flows from such assets, (3) assets resulting from the reinvestment of such cash flows, (4) cash flows from the Closed Block Policies, and (5) assets resulting from the investment of cash flows from the Closed Block Policies. The Closed Block Assets include policy loans, accrued interest on any of the foregoing assets and premiums due on the Closed Block Policies. The Closed Block Assets do not include assets relating to a closed block established for Canadian policies because the related amounts are insignificant. The Closed Block Liabilities are Closed Block Policies and other liabilities of the Closed Block associated with the Closed Block Assets. The Closed Block Assets and Closed Block Liabilities are supported by additional assets held outside the Closed Block by Prudential Insurance to provide additional capital with respect to the Closed Block Policies, as well as invested assets held outside the Closed Block that represent the difference between the Closed Block Assets and the sum of the Closed Block Liabilities and the interest maintenance reserve. We refer to these additional assets and invested assets outside the Closed Block collectively as the Surplus and Related Assets. The interest maintenance reserve, recorded only under statutory accounting principles, captures realized capital gains and losses resulting from changes in the general level of interest rates. These gains and losses are amortized into investment income over the expected remaining life of the investments sold.

 

On the date of demutualization, the majority of the net proceeds from the issuances of the Class B Stock and the IHC debt was allocated to our Financial Services Businesses. Also, on the date of demutualization, Prudential Holdings, LLC distributed $1.218 billion of the net proceeds of the IHC debt to Prudential Financial to use for general corporate purposes in the Financial Services Businesses. Prudential Holdings, LLC deposited $437 million of the net proceeds of the IHC debt in a debt service coverage account maintained in the Financial Services Businesses that, together with reinvested earnings thereon, constitutes a source of payment and security for the IHC debt. The remainder of the net proceeds, or $72 million, was used to purchase a guaranteed investment contract to fund a portion of the bond insurance related to the IHC debt. To the extent we use the debt service coverage account to service payments with respect to the IHC debt or to pay dividends to Prudential Financial for purposes of the Closed Block Business, a loan from the Financial Services Businesses to the Closed Block Business would be established. Such an inter-business loan would be repaid by the Closed Block Business to the Financial Services Businesses when earnings from the Closed Block Business replenish funds in the debt service coverage account to a specified level.

 

We believe that the proceeds from the issuances of the Class B Stock and IHC debt allocated to the Financial Services Businesses reflected capital in excess of that necessary to support the Closed Block Business and that the Closed Block Business as established has sufficient assets and cash flows to service the IHC debt. The Closed Block Business was financially leveraged through the issuance of the IHC debt, and dividends on the Class B Stock are subject to prior servicing of the IHC debt. It is expected that any inter-business loan referred to above will be repaid in full out of the Surplus and Related Assets, but not the Closed Block Assets. Any such loan will be subordinated to the IHC debt.

 

The Financial Services Businesses will bear any expenses and liabilities from litigation affecting the Closed Block Policies and, as discussed below, the consequences of certain potential adverse tax determinations. In connection with the sale of the Class B Stock and IHC debt, we agreed to indemnify the investors in those securities with respect to certain matters, and any cost of that indemnification would be borne by the Financial Services Businesses.

 

Within the Closed Block Business, the assets and cash flows attributable to the Closed Block inure solely to the benefit of the Closed Block policyholders through policyholder dividends after payment of benefits, expenses and taxes. The Surplus and Related Assets inure to the benefit of the holders of Class B Stock. The earnings on, and distribution of, the Surplus and Related Assets over time will be the source or measure of payment of the interest and principal of the IHC debt and of dividends on the Class B Stock. The earnings of the Closed Block are reported as part of the Closed Block Business, although no cash flows or assets of the Closed Block inure to the benefit of the holders of Common Stock or Class B Stock. The Closed Block Assets are not available to service interest or principal of the IHC debt or dividends on the Class B Stock.

 

3


Table of Contents

Inter-Business Transfers and Allocation Policies

 

Prudential Financial’s Board of Directors has adopted certain policies with respect to inter-business transfers and accounting and tax matters, including the allocation of earnings. Such policies are summarized below. In the future, the Board of Directors may modify, rescind or add to any of these policies. However, the decision of the Board of Directors to modify, rescind or add to any of these policies is subject to the Board of Directors’ general fiduciary duties. In addition, we have agreed with the investors in the Class B Stock and the insurer of the IHC debt that, in most instances, the Board of Directors may not change these policies without their consent.

 

Inter-Business Transactions and Transfers

 

The transactions permitted between the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business, subject to any required regulatory approvals and the contractual limitations noted above, include the following:

 

    The Closed Block Business may lend to the Financial Services Businesses, and the Financial Services Businesses may lend to the Closed Block Business, in each case on terms no less favorable to the Closed Block Business than comparable internal loans and only for cash management purposes in the ordinary course of business and on market terms pursuant to our internal short-term cash management facility.

 

    Other transactions between the Closed Block and businesses outside of the Closed Block, including the Financial Services Businesses, are permitted if, among other things, such transactions benefit the Closed Block, are at fair market value and do not exceed, in any calendar year, a specified formula amount.

 

    Capital contributions to Prudential Insurance may be for the benefit of either the Financial Services Businesses or the Closed Block Business and assets of the Financial Services Businesses within Prudential Insurance may be transferred to the Closed Block Business within Prudential Insurance in the form of a loan which is subordinated to all existing obligations of the Closed Block Business and on market terms.

 

    An inter-business loan from the Financial Services Businesses to the Closed Block Business may be established to reflect usage of the net proceeds of the IHC debt initially deposited in the debt service coverage account, and any reinvested earnings thereon, to pay debt service on the IHC debt or dividends to Prudential Financial for purposes of the Closed Block Business.

 

    In addition to the foregoing, the Financial Services Businesses may lend to the Closed Block Business, on either a subordinated or non-subordinated basis, on market terms as may be approved by Prudential Financial.

 

    The Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business may engage in such other transactions on market terms as may be approved by Prudential Financial and, if applicable, Prudential Insurance.

 

    The Board of Directors has discretion to transfer assets of the Financial Services Businesses to the Closed Block, or use such assets for the benefit of Closed Block policyholders, if it believes such transfer or usage is in the best interests of the Financial Services Businesses, and such transfer or usage may be made without requiring any repayment of the amounts transferred or used or the payment of any other consideration from the Closed Block Business.

 

    Cash payments for administrative purposes from the Closed Block Business to the Financial Services Businesses are based on formulas that initially approximated the actual expenses incurred by the Financial Services Businesses to provide such services based on insurance and policies in force and statutory cash premiums. Administrative expenses recorded by the Closed Block Business, and the related income tax effect, are based upon actual expenses incurred under accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S., or GAAP, utilizing the Company’s methodology for the allocation of such expenses. Any difference in the cash amount transferred and actual expenses incurred as reported under GAAP will be recorded, on an after-tax basis at the applicable current rate, as direct adjustments to the respective equity balances of the Closed Block Business and the Financial Services Businesses, without the issuance of shares of either Business to the other Business. This direct equity adjustment modifies earnings available to each class of common stock for earnings per share purposes. Internal investment expenses recorded and paid by the Closed Block Business, and the related income tax effect, are based upon actual expenses incurred under GAAP and in accordance with internal arrangements governing recordkeeping, bank fees, accounting and reporting, asset allocation, investment policy and planning and analysis.

 

4


Table of Contents

Accounting Policies

 

Accounting policies relating to the allocation of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses between the two Businesses include:

 

    All our assets, liabilities, equity and earnings are allocated between the two Businesses and accounted for as if the Businesses were separate legal entities. Assets and liabilities allocated to the Closed Block Business are those that we consider appropriate to operate that Business. All remaining assets and liabilities of Prudential Financial and its subsidiaries constitute the assets and liabilities of the Financial Services Businesses.

 

    For financial reporting purposes, revenues; administrative, overhead and investment expenses; taxes other than federal income taxes; and certain commissions and commission-related expenses associated with the Closed Block Business are allocated between the Closed Block Business and the Financial Services Businesses in accordance with GAAP. Interest expense and routine maintenance and administrative costs generated by the IHC debt are considered directly attributable to the Closed Block Business and are therefore allocated to the Closed Block Business, except as indicated below.

 

    Any transfers of funds between the Closed Block Business and the Financial Services Businesses will typically be accounted for as either reimbursement of expense, investment income, return of principal or a subordinated loan, except as contemplated under “—Inter-Business Transactions and Transfers” above.

 

    The Financial Services Businesses will bear any expenses and liabilities from litigation affecting the Closed Block Policies and the consequences of certain potential adverse tax determinations noted below. In connection with the sale of the Class B Stock and IHC debt, we agreed to indemnify the investors with respect to certain matters, and any such indemnification would be borne by the Financial Services Businesses.

 

Tax Allocation and Tax Treatment

 

The Closed Block Business within each legal entity is treated as if it were a consolidated subsidiary of Prudential Financial. Accordingly, if the Closed Block Business has taxable income, it recognizes its share of income tax as if it were a consolidated subsidiary of Prudential Financial. If the Closed Block Business has losses or credits, it recognizes a current income tax benefit.

 

If the Closed Block Business within any legal entity has taxable income, it pays its share of income tax in cash to the Financial Services Businesses. If it has losses or credits, it receives its benefit in cash from the Financial Services Businesses. If the losses or credits cannot be currently utilized in the consolidated federal income tax return of Prudential Financial for the year in which such losses or credits arise, the Closed Block Business will receive the full benefit in cash, and the Financial Services Businesses will subsequently recover the payment at the time the losses or credits are actually utilized in computing estimated payments or in the consolidated federal income tax return of Prudential Financial. Certain tax costs and benefits are determined under the Plan of Reorganization with respect to the Closed Block using statutory accounting rules that may give rise to tax costs or tax benefits prior to the time that those costs or benefits are actually realized for tax purposes. If at any time the Closed Block Business is allocated any such tax cost or a tax benefit under the Plan of Reorganization that is not realized at that same time under the relevant tax rules but will be realized in the future, the Closed Block Business will pay such tax cost or receive such tax benefit at that time, but it shall be paid to or paid by the Financial Services Businesses. When such tax cost or tax benefit is subsequently realized under the relevant tax rules, the tax cost or tax benefit shall be allocated to the Financial Services Businesses.

 

The foregoing principles are applied so as to prevent any item of income, deduction, gain, loss, credit, tax cost or tax benefit being taken into account more than once by the Closed Block Business or the Financial Services Businesses. For this purpose, items determined under the Plan of Reorganization with respect to any period prior to the date of demutualization were taken into account, with any such pre-demutualization tax attributes relating to the Closed Block being attributed to the Closed Block Business and all other pre-demutualization tax attributes being attributed to the Financial Services Businesses. The Closed Block Business will also pay or receive its appropriate share of tax or interest resulting from adjustments attributable to the settlement of tax controversies or the filing of amended tax returns to the extent that the tax or interest relates to controversies or amended returns arising with respect to the Closed Block Business and attributable to tax

 

5


Table of Contents

periods after the date of demutualization, except to the extent that the tax is directly attributable to the characterization of the IHC debt for tax purposes, in which case the tax shall be borne by the Financial Services Businesses. In particular, if a change of tax law after the date of demutualization, including any change in the interpretation of any tax law, results in the recharacterization of all or part of the IHC debt for tax purposes or a significant reduction in the income tax benefit associated with the interest expense on all or part of the IHC debt, the Financial Services Businesses will continue to pay the foregone income tax benefit to the Closed Block Business until the IHC debt has been repaid or Prudential Holdings, LLC has been released from its obligations to the bond insurer and under the IHC debt as if such recharacterization or reduction of actual benefit had not occurred.

 

Financial Services Businesses

 

The Financial Services Businesses is comprised of three divisions, containing seven segments, and our Corporate and Other operations. The Insurance division is comprised of the Individual Life and Annuities and the Group Insurance segments. The Investment division is comprised of the Asset Management, Financial Advisory and Retirement segments. The International Insurance and Investments division is comprised of the International Insurance and International Investments segments.

 

See Note 20 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for revenues, income and loss, and total assets by segment of the Financial Services Businesses.

 

Insurance Division

 

The Insurance division conducts its business through the Individual Life and Annuities and the Group Insurance segments.

 

Individual Life and Annuities

 

Our Individual Life and Annuities segment manufactures and distributes individual variable life, term life, universal life and non-participating whole life insurance, and variable and fixed annuity products, primarily to the U.S. mass market and mass affluent market. In general, we consider households in the U.S. market with investable assets or income in excess of $100,000 to be mass affluent. Our life products are distributed primarily through Prudential Agents and increasingly through third parties. Our annuity products are distributed through a diverse group of independent financial planners, broker-dealers and banks, as well as through Prudential Agents.

 

On May 1, 2003, we acquired Skandia U.S. Inc., which included American Skandia, Inc., or American Skandia, one of the largest distributors of variable annuities through independent financial planners in the U.S., from Skandia Insurance Company Ltd. for a total purchase price of $1.184 billion. Our acquisition of Skandia U.S., Inc. also included a mutual fund business that was combined with our Asset Management segment. Beginning May 1, 2003, the annuity operations of American Skandia are included as a component of our individual annuity business discussed below. The acquisition significantly expanded and diversified our third party distribution capabilities in the U.S. and broadened our array of product offerings. As of December 31, 2004, the integration of American Skandia with our original individual annuity business was substantially complete, and we continue to use the Prudential and American Skandia brands in the annuity market. See Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the acquisition.

 

Skandia Insurance Company Ltd. has agreed to indemnify us for certain losses, including losses resulting from litigation or regulatory matters relating to events prior to closing the transaction and brought within four years, subject to an aggregate cap of $1 billion. Under the terms of a License Agreement, we have the right to use the “American Skandia” name in conjunction with our own name in the U.S. in the annuity business for five years and in the mutual fund business for two years. Skandia Insurance Company Ltd. has agreed not to compete with us in the U.S. in the annuity business for five years and in the mutual fund business for two years.

 

6


Table of Contents

Products

 

Variable Life Insurance

 

We offer a number of individual variable life insurance products that provide a return linked to an underlying investment portfolio designated by the policyholder while providing the policyholder with the flexibility to change both the death benefit and premium payments. Each product provides for the deduction of charges and expenses from the customer’s investment account.

 

Term Life Insurance

 

We offer a variety of term life insurance products. Most term products include a conversion feature that allows the policyholder to convert the policy into permanent life insurance coverage.

 

Universal Life Insurance

 

We offer universal life insurance products that feature a market rate fixed interest investment account and flexible premiums. In June 2003, we updated our universal life insurance products and began to offer survivorship universal life, which covers two individuals on a single policy and provides for payment of a death benefit upon the death of the second insured individual.

 

Non-participating Whole Life Insurance

 

We offer a non-participating whole life insurance product with guaranteed fixed level premiums and guaranteed cash values, which is principally used in the contractual term-to-whole life conversion market.

 

Variable and Fixed Annuities

 

We offer variable annuities that provide our customers with the opportunity to invest in proprietary and non-proprietary mutual funds and fixed-rate options. The investments made by customers in the proprietary and non-proprietary mutual funds represent separate accounts for which the contractholder bears the investment risk. The investments made in the fixed rate options are credited with interest at rates we determine, subject to certain minimums. Additionally, our variable annuities products offer certain minimum death benefit and living benefit guarantee options. We also offer fixed annuities that provide a guarantee of principal and a guaranteed interest rate for a specified period of time.

 

Marketing and Distribution

 

Prudential Agents

 

Our Prudential Agents distribute variable, term, universal and non-participating whole life insurance, variable and fixed annuities, and investment and protection products with proprietary and non-proprietary investment options as well as selected insurance and investment products manufactured by others.

 

The following table sets forth the number of Prudential Agents, field managers, home office and field staff and field offices as of the dates indicated.

 

     As of December 31,

     2004

   2003

   2002

Prudential Agents

   3,682    4,320    4,389

Field management

   292    411    472

Home office and field staff

   846    965    1,053

Prudential parent offices

   53    72    79

 

Prudential Agents sell life insurance products primarily to customers in the U.S. mass and mass affluent markets, as well as small business owners. The majority of Prudential Agents are multi-line agents. Other than

 

7


Table of Contents

certain training allowances or salary paid at the beginning of their employment, we pay Prudential Agents on a commission basis for the products they sell. In addition to commissions, Prudential Agents receive the employee benefits that we provide to other Prudential employees generally, including medical and disability insurance, an employee savings program and qualified retirement plans.

 

Prior to the sale of our property and casualty insurance operations in 2003, the Individual Life and Annuities segment had been compensated for property and casualty insurance products sold through its distribution network. Following the sale, Prudential Agents have continued access to non-proprietary property and casualty products under distribution agreements entered into with the purchasers of these businesses; therefore, the Individual Life and Annuities segment continues to be compensated for sales of these products.

 

Third Party Distribution

 

Our individual life and annuity products are offered through a variety of third party channels, including independent brokers, general agencies, producer groups, banks and broker-dealers. We focus on serving the intermediaries who provide insurance solutions in support of estate and wealth transfer planning for affluent and mass affluent individuals. The life insurance products offered are generally the same as those available through Prudential Agents. The annuity products offered via the third party channels include both Prudential and American Skandia branded products. Our third party efforts are supported by a network of internal and external wholesalers.

 

Underwriting and Pricing

 

Life Insurance

 

Our life insurance underwriters follow detailed and uniform policies and procedures to assess and quantify the risk of our individual life insurance products. We require the applicant to take a variety of underwriting tests, such as medical examinations, electrocardiograms, blood tests, urine tests, chest x-rays and consumer investigative reports, depending on the age of the applicant and the amount of insurance requested. Our universal life insurance contracts and the fixed component of our variable life insurance contracts feature crediting rates, which are periodically reset. In resetting these rates, we consider the returns on our portfolios supporting the interest-sensitive life insurance business, current interest rates, the competitive environment and our profit objectives.

 

Annuities

 

We earn asset management fees based upon the average assets of the mutual funds in our variable annuity products and mortality and expense fees and other fees for various insurance-related options and features based on average daily net assets value of the annuity separate accounts or the amount of guaranteed value. We price our fixed annuities as well as the fixed-rate options of our variable annuities based on assumptions as to investment returns, expenses and persistency. Competition also influences our pricing. We seek to maintain a spread between the return on our general account invested assets and the interest we credit on our fixed annuities. To encourage persistency, most of our variable and fixed annuities have withdrawal restrictions and declining surrender or withdrawal charges for a specified number of years.

 

Reserves

 

We establish reserves and policyholder fund liabilities to recognize our future benefit obligations for our in force life and annuity policies, including the minimum death benefit and living benefit guarantee features of some of these policies. For variable and interest-sensitive life insurance and annuity contracts, we establish policyholders’ account balances that represent cumulative gross premium payments plus credited interest and/or fund performance, less withdrawals, expenses and mortality charges.

 

Reinsurance

 

Since 2000, we have reinsured the majority of the mortality risk we assume under our newly sold individual life insurance policies. The maximum amount of individual life insurance we may retain on any life is $30 million under an individual policy and $50 million under a second-to-die life insurance policy.

 

8


Table of Contents

Group Insurance

 

Our Group Insurance segment manufactures and distributes a full range of group life, long-term and short-term group disability, long-term care, and corporate- and trust-owned life insurance in the U.S. to institutional clients primarily for use in connection with employee and membership benefits plans. Group Insurance also sells accidental death and dismemberment and other ancillary coverages and provides plan administrative services in connection with its insurance coverages.

 

Products

 

Group Life Insurance

 

We offer group life insurance products including basic and supplemental term life insurance to employees, optional term life insurance to dependents of employees and universal life insurance. We also offer group variable universal life insurance and voluntary accidental death and dismemberment insurance. Many of our employee-pay coverages include a portability feature, allowing employees to retain their coverage when they change employers or retire. We also offer a living benefits option that allows insureds that are diagnosed with a terminal illness to receive a portion of their life insurance benefit upon diagnosis, in advance of death, to use as needed.

 

Group Disability Insurance

 

We offer short- and long-term group disability insurance, which protects against loss of wages due to illness or injury. Short-term disability generally provides coverage for three to six months, and long-term disability covers the period after short-term disability ends. We also offer absence management and integrated disability management services in conjunction with a third party.

 

Other

 

We offer individual and group long-term care insurance and group corporate- and trust-owned life insurance. Long-term care insurance protects the insured from the costs of an adult day care center, a nursing home or similar live-in care situation or a home health or a personal care aide. Group corporate- and trust-owned life insurance are group variable life insurance contracts typically used by large corporations to fund benefit plans for retired employees. They also may be used as vehicles to deliver deferred compensation or non-qualified benefits to active employees.

 

Marketing and Distribution

 

Group Insurance has its own dedicated sales force that is organized around products and market segments and distributes primarily through employee benefits brokers and consultants. Group Insurance also distributes individual long-term care products through Prudential Agents as well as third party brokers and agents.

 

Underwriting and Pricing

 

We have developed standard rating systems for each product line in the Group Insurance segment based on our past experience and relevant industry experience. We are not obligated to accept any application for a policy or group of policies from any distributor. We follow uniform underwriting practices and procedures. If the coverage amount exceeds certain prescribed age and amount limits, we may require a prospective insured to submit evidence of insurability.

 

We determine premiums on some of our policies on a retrospective experience rated basis, in which case the policyholder bears some of the risk or receives some of the benefit associated with claim experience fluctuations during the policy period. We base product pricing of group insurance products on the expected pay-out of benefits that we calculate using assumptions for mortality, morbidity, interest, expenses and persistency, depending upon the specific product features.

 

9


Table of Contents

Some of our other policies are not eligible to receive experience based refunds. The adequacy of our pricing of these policies determines their profitability during the rate guarantee period. The trend towards multiple year rate guarantees for new policies, which are typically three years for life insurance, two years for disability insurance and three to five years for group long-term care insurance, further increases the adverse consequences of mispricing coverage and lengthens the time it takes to reduce loss ratios.

 

We routinely make pricing adjustments, when contractually permitted, that take into account the emerging experience on our group insurance products. While there can be no assurance, we expect these actions, as well as pricing discipline in writing new business, will allow us to maintain or improve our benefits ratios.

 

Reserves

 

We establish and carry as liabilities actuarially determined reserves that we believe will be adequate to meet our future obligations. We base these reserves on actuarially recognized methods using morbidity and mortality tables in general use in the U.S., which we modify to reflect our actual experience when appropriate. Reserves also include claims reported but not yet paid, and claims incurred but not reported.

 

Investment Division

 

The Investment division conducts its business through the Asset Management, Financial Advisory and Retirement segments.

 

Asset Management

 

In the first quarter of 2004, we combined the former Other Asset Management segment with the former Investment Management segment to form the Asset Management segment. The Asset Management segment provides a broad array of investment management and advisory services, mutual funds and other structured products. These products and services are provided to the public and private marketplace, as well as our Insurance division, International Insurance and Investments division and Retirement segment.

 

10


Table of Contents

Operating Data

 

The following tables set forth the assets under management of the investment management and advisory services group of our Asset Management segment at fair market value by asset class and source as of the dates indicated.

 

     December 31, 2004

     Equity

  

Fixed

Income(4)


  

Real

Estate


   Total

     (in billions)

Retail customers(1)

   $ 45.7    $ 19.3    $ 1.0    $ 66.0

Institutional customers(2)

     42.4      62.6      14.2      119.2

General account(3)

     3.1      148.4      1.2      152.7
    

  

  

  

Total

   $ 91.2    $ 230.3    $ 16.4    $ 337.9
    

  

  

  

     December 31, 2003

     Equity

  

Fixed

Income(4)


  

Real

Estate


   Total

     (in billions)

Retail customers(1)

   $ 42.5    $ 37.7    $ 1.0    $ 81.2

Institutional customers(2)

     31.2      50.8      12.8      94.8

General account(3)

     2.9      123.8      1.1      127.8
    

  

  

  

Total

   $ 76.6    $ 212.3    $ 14.9    $ 303.8
    

  

  

  

     December 31, 2002

     Equity

  

Fixed

Income(4)


  

Real

Estate


   Total

     (in billions)

Retail customers(1)

   $ 33.2    $ 46.5    $ 0.2    $ 79.9

Institutional customers(2)

     24.4      47.2      13.6      85.2

General account(3)

     2.7      118.8      1.4      122.9
    

  

  

  

Total

   $ 60.3    $ 212.5    $ 15.2    $ 288.0
    

  

  

  


(1)   Consists of individual mutual funds, including investments in our mutual funds through wrap-fee products, and both variable annuities and variable life insurance assets in our separate accounts. Fixed annuities and the fixed-rate option of both variable annuities and variable life insurance are included in our general account. Amounts as of December 31, 2003 include money market mutual fund balances of $17.8 billion, which as of December 31, 2004, were essentially eliminated due to the replacement of these funds with other investment alternatives for brokerage clients of Wachovia Securities. The resulting reduction in asset management fees has been offset by payments from Wachovia Corporation under an agreement dated as of July 30, 2004 implementing arrangements with respect to money market mutual funds in connection with the combination of our retail securities brokerage and clearing operations with those of Wachovia Corporation. The agreement extends for ten years after termination of the joint venture. The revenue from Wachovia Corporation under this agreement was $35 million in 2004.
(2)   Consists of third party institutional assets and group insurance contracts. Amounts as of December 31, 2004 include assets associated with our acquisition of CIGNA Corporation’s retirement business on April 1, 2004, which amounted to $9.0 billion as of that date.
(3)   Amounts as of December 31, 2004 include assets associated with our acquisition of CIGNA Corporation’s retirement business on April 1, 2004, which amounted to $18.7 billion as of that date.
(4)   Includes private fixed income assets of institutional customers of $7.9 billion as of December 31, 2004, $6.3 billion as of December 31, 2003 and $4.9 billion as of December 31, 2002, and private fixed income assets in our general account of $55.7 billion, $47.3 billion and $47.1 billion, as of those dates, respectively.

 

11


Table of Contents

The following table sets forth for our Asset Management segment’s mutual fund assets under management and wrap-fee product assets under administration, at fair market value, as of the dates indicated.

 

     As of December 31,

     2004

   2003

   2002

     (in billions)

Equity

   $ 20.0    $ 19.1    $ 13.0

Fixed income

     7.0      8.0      6.9

Money market(1)

     3.7      19.7      29.9
    

  

  

Total mutual funds(2)

   $ 30.7    $ 46.8    $ 49.8
    

  

  

Wrap-fee products(3)

   $ 41.3    $ 19.8    $ 15.2
    

  

  


(1)   Amounts as of December 31, 2003 include money market mutual fund balances of $15.6 billion that, as of December 31, 2004, were essentially eliminated due to the replacement of these funds with other investment alternatives for brokerage clients of Wachovia Securities.
(2)   Mutual funds includes those sold as retail investment products. Also includes balances from funds for which we act as sub-adviser of $3.7 billion, $3.2 billion and $2.4 billion as of December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively.
(3)   During 2004 we became a provider of program services for certain mutual fund wrap and separately managed account platforms of Wachovia Securities, which resulted in an increase of $13.9 billion in wrap-fee product assets under administration. Wrap-fee product assets also include $3.6 billion, $3.4 billion and $2.8 billion of proprietary assets as of December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively.

 

Products and Services

 

Public Fixed Income Asset Management

 

Our public fixed income organization manages fixed income portfolios domestically and internationally for institutional and retail clients, as well as for our general account. Our products range from broad market strategies, such as index funds, to short- and long-duration strategies. We manage customized asset liability strategies, as well as single sector strategies across the fixed income market. Strategies are managed by seasoned portfolio managers with securities selected by our nine sector specialist teams: Corporate, High Yield, U.S. Liquidity (U.S. government and mortgages), Global Fixed Income, Municipal Bond, Money Market, Emerging Markets, Bank Loans, and Structured Product. We also manage relative value hedge strategies as well as collateralized debt obligations.

 

Public Equity Asset Management

 

Our public equity organization provides discretionary and non-discretionary asset management services to a wide range of clients. We manage a broad array of publicly traded equity asset classes using various investment styles. The public equity organization is comprised of two wholly owned registered investment advisors, Jennison Associates, LLC and Quantitative Management Associates, LLC. Jennison Associates uses fundamental, team-based research to manage portfolios for institutional, sub-advisory, and private clients through separately managed and commingled vehicles, including mutual funds. Quantitative Management Associates specializes in the discipline of quantitative investing tailored to client objectives.

 

Private Fixed Income and Equity Asset Management

 

Our private fixed income organization provides asset management services by investing predominantly in private placement investment grade debt securities, as well as below investment grade debt securities, and mezzanine debt financing. These investment capabilities are utilized by our general account and institutional clients through direct advisory accounts, separate accounts, or private fund structures. A majority of the private placement investments are directly originated by our investment staff.

 

At the end of 2001, we decided to exit our private equity asset management business through divestiture and rationalization of the remaining activities into our private fixed income asset management business. The remaining assets we manage, primarily for our general account, include venture capital, leveraged buyouts, development capital, mezzanine debt and certain special situations.

 

12


Table of Contents

Commercial Mortgage Origination, Servicing and Securitization

 

Our commercial mortgage banking business provides mortgage origination and servicing for our general account, institutional clients, and government sponsored entities such as Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration. We originate and purchase commercial mortgages that we in turn sell through securitization transactions. We also originate interim loans when we expect the loans will lead to securitization opportunities. As of December 31, 2004, our warehouse principal balance of mortgages pending securitization and interim loans totaled approximately $990 million. In general, the assets we securitize are serviced by our investment management and advisory services group.

 

Real Estate Asset Management

 

Our real estate organization provides asset management services for single-client and commingled real estate portfolios and manufactures and manages a variety of real estate investment vehicles, primarily for institutional clients. Our real estate investment vehicles range from fully diversified funds to specialized funds that invest in specific types of properties or specific geographic regions or follow other specific investment strategies.

 

On December 31, 2002, we acquired TMW Immobilien AG and TMW Real Estate Group, LLC, which we together refer to as TMW. TMW is one of the largest independent investment managers of international real estate. TMW has offices in Atlanta, Georgia and throughout Europe, and has been integrated with the rest of our institutional real estate management activities.

 

Proprietary Investments

 

We make proprietary investments in private equity and in debt, equity and real estate securities, including controlling interests. Certain proprietary investments are made with the intention to sell or syndicate to investors, including our general account, or for placement in funds and structured products that we offer and manage. Other proprietary investments are made for purposes of co-investment in our managed funds and structured products.

 

Beginning on January 1, 2003, the Asset Management segment includes a proprietary investment portfolio, with a fair value of approximately $438 million as of December 31, 2004, consisting primarily of real estate related investments previously included in our Corporate and Other operations. The portfolio consists of certain of our co-investment interests in funds, operating companies, and other investment vehicles managed by our investment management and advisory services group. Our Asset Management segment will provide substantially all future co-investment in these vehicles.

 

Mutual Fund and Wrap-fee Products

 

We manufacture, distribute and service investment management products utilizing proprietary and non-proprietary asset management expertise in the U.S. retail market. Our products are designed to be sold primarily by financial professionals including both Prudential Agents and third party advisors. We offer a family of retail investment products consisting of 78 mutual funds as of December 31, 2004. These products cover a wide array of investment styles and objectives designed to attract and retain assets of individuals with varying objectives and to accommodate investors’ changing financial needs. On May 1, 2003, we acquired Skandia U.S. Inc., which included a mutual fund business. The operations of the acquired mutual fund business have been combined with our existing mutual fund business.

 

The industry trend is for products such as mutual funds to include investment alternatives that are managed by asset managers other than the product sponsor. Over the last several years, we have been building investment management choice into most of our mutual fund products. We are able to offer customers investment alternatives in some of our products that may be advised by third parties with asset management styles that we may or may not offer.

 

We also provide services for the private label wrap-fee products of other financial services firms that provide access to mutual funds and separate account products with the payment of our fees based on the market value of assets under administration. Wrap-fee products have higher minimum investment levels than our mutual funds and

 

13


Table of Contents

offer a choice of both proprietary and non-proprietary investment management. We no longer sponsor unit investment trusts and transferred our sponsorship of existing trusts to a successor sponsor as of January 1, 2004.

 

Marketing and Distribution

 

Most of the retail customer assets under management are invested in our mutual funds and our variable annuities and variable life insurance products. These assets are gathered by the Insurance division, the International Insurance and Investments division and third party networks, including financial advisors associated with our joint venture with Wachovia Corporation discussed under “—Financial Advisory” below. Third party intermediary sales represent the fastest growing sales channel on a net basis. Additionally, we work with third party product manufacturers and distributors to include our investment options in their products and platforms.

 

We provide investment management services for our institutional customers through a proprietary sales force.

 

We also provide investment management services across a broad array of asset classes for our general account, as described under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Realized Investment Gains and General Account Investments—General Account Investments.”

 

Financial Advisory

 

The Financial Advisory segment consists of our 38% investment in Wachovia Securities and our equity sales, trading and research operations.

 

Wachovia Securities

 

On July 1, 2003, we combined our retail securities brokerage and clearing operations with those of Wachovia Corporation, or Wachovia, and formed Wachovia Securities Financial Holdings, LLC, or Wachovia Securities, a joint venture headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. We have a 38% ownership interest in the joint venture, while Wachovia owns the remaining 62%. We account for our 38% ownership of the joint venture under the equity method of accounting and, beginning on July 1, 2003, report earnings from the joint venture on the equity method basis. Periods prior to July 1, 2003 reflect the results of our previously wholly owned securities brokerage and clearing operations on a fully consolidated basis.

 

Wachovia Securities, one of the nation’s largest retail brokerage and clearing organizations, provides full service securities brokerage and financial advisory services to individuals and businesses. As of December 31, 2004, it had total client assets of $653 billion and approximately 10,500 registered representatives.

 

Wachovia and Wachovia Securities are key distribution partners for certain of our products, including our mutual funds and individual annuities that are distributed through their financial advisors, bank channel and independent channel. In addition, we are a service provider to the managed account platform and certain wrap-fee programs offered by Wachovia Securities.

 

The segment results for 2003 and 2004 reflect transition costs, including transition costs incurred by the joint venture, in connection with the combination as well as expenses relating to obligations retained in connection with the contributed businesses, primarily retained litigation and regulatory matters. Integration initiatives associated with the Wachovia transaction are substantially complete. Prudential Financial and Wachovia have each agreed to indemnify the other for certain losses, including losses resulting from litigation or regulatory matters relating to certain events prior to March 31, 2004, arising from the operations of their respective contributed businesses.

 

At any time after July 1, 2005 and on or prior to July 1, 2008, we may, subject to certain limitations, require Wachovia to purchase our interests in the new organization for a price generally equal to our initial $1.0 billion equity contribution plus our share of transition costs, as adjusted to reflect additional investments made by us. At

 

14


Table of Contents

any time after July 1, 2008, we may, subject to certain limitations, require Wachovia to purchase our interests in the new organization for a price generally equal to our share of the then appraised value of the common equity of the organization, determined as if it were a public company and including a control premium such as would apply in the case of a sale of 100% of its common equity. The agreement between Prudential Financial and Wachovia also gives us put rights, and Wachovia call rights, in certain other specified circumstances, at prices determined in accordance with the agreement.

 

Equity Sales, Trading and Research Operations

 

We provide research coverage, primarily to institutional clients, of U.S. equity securities, and engage in sales and trading on both an agency and a principal basis in listed and NASDAQ equities and equity options. We make a market in more than 900 NASDAQ securities.

 

Our research analysts produce reports and studies on the economy; the domestic equity markets, industries and specific companies; investment and portfolio strategies; and regulatory, political, legislative and tax issues. We seek to focus our research coverage on companies of greatest interest to our clients, located both in the U.S. and abroad.

 

Retirement

 

The Retirement segment provides retirement-plan products and services to public, private, and not-for-profit organizations. Our products and services include recordkeeping, plan administration, actuarial advisory services, tailored participant education and communication services, trustee services, institutional investment funds and retail investment funds. While we are focused primarily on servicing defined contribution and defined benefit plans, we also serve non-qualified plans. For clients with both defined contribution and defined benefit plans, we provide integrated defined benefit/defined contribution recordkeeping services. For participants leaving our client’s plans, we provide a broad range of rollover products through our broker-dealer and bank. In addition, we offer guaranteed products such as guaranteed investment contracts, or GICs, funding agreements, retail notes, structured settlement annuities and group annuities for defined contribution plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified entities. We refer to this business in the marketplace as Prudential Retirement.

 

On April 1, 2004, we acquired the retirement business of CIGNA Corporation, or CIGNA, for $2.123 billion. The acquisition included the purchase of all the shares of CIGNA Life Insurance Company, or CIGNA Life, which became an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial. Prior to the acquisition, CIGNA Life entered into reinsurance arrangements with CIGNA to effect the transfer of the retirement business included in the transaction to CIGNA Life. Subsequent to the acquisition, we changed the name of CIGNA Life to Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, or PRIAC. See Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the acquisition. The process of integrating CIGNA’s retirement business with our original retirement business has proceeded in accordance with management’s expectations, and through the end of 2004 we had completed approximately 40% of all key milestones. We expect integration-related activities to be substantially complete by the end of 2005.

 

The Retirement segment’s assets increased to $130 billion, as measured by customer account values as of December 31, 2004, primarily reflecting the acquisition of CIGNA’s retirement business. The transaction also broadened our array of product offerings by adding defined benefit administrative services, actuarial advisory services and institutional separate account investment funds to our product and service mix.

 

CIGNA has agreed to indemnify us for certain losses, including, subject to a basket of $25 million with a $12.5 million deductible and a cap of 75 percent of the purchase price, losses related to breaches by CIGNA of its representations and warranties. Prudential Financial has agreed to indemnify CIGNA for any breach by PRIAC of its contractual obligations under the reinsurance and other agreements.

 

Products and Services

 

Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Products and Services

 

Through our defined contribution, or DC, and defined benefit, or DB, products we offer plan sponsors and their participants a broad range of products and services to assist in the delivery and administration of defined

 

15


Table of Contents

contribution, defined benefit, and non-qualified retirement plans. Revenue is generated from asset-based fees, recordkeeping and other advisory fees, and the spread margin on stable value products sold through the DB and DC businesses. To the extent that Prudential Financial’s asset management units are selected to manage client assets associated with fee-based products, those units also earn asset management fees.

 

In the DC market, we offer a broad range of recordkeeping and administrative services for qualified and non-qualified plans, a comprehensive array of investment offerings, and a variety of advisory services to assist plan sponsors in managing fiduciary obligations. As part of our investment products, we make available both retail mutual funds on a load-waived basis and institutional funds advised by affiliated and non-affiliated investment managers. Our investment platform is supported by our Due Diligence Advisor Program, which evaluates investment vehicles and identifies, monitors and reports on those that represent top choices.

 

Both our DC and DB offerings are supported by participant communications and education programs, and a broad range of advisory services including nondiscrimination testing, plan document services, signature-ready documents for required filings, and full actuarial support for defined benefit plans. Additional services include non-qualified plan administration, investment advisory services, and merger and acquisition support.

 

In addition, we offer a broad range of brokerage and banking solutions, including rollover IRA’s and mutual funds. Our rollover business is marketed to participants who terminate or retire from employers for whom we provide retirement plan recordkeeping services.

 

Structured and Stable Value Products

 

We manufacture general and separate account stable value products for use within our DC and DB businesses as well as general account investment-only products for use in the capital and retail markets. Our primary investment-only products are GICs, funding agreements, retail notes and institutional notes, which are issued pursuant to our Funding Agreement Notes Issuance Program discussed below under “—Marketing and Distribution.” Our general and separate account products are distributed through multiple channels serving both qualified and non-qualified markets.

 

Our general account products contain an obligation to pay interest at a specified rate and to repay principal at maturity or following contract termination. Because these obligations are backed by our general account, we bear the investment and asset/liability management risk associated with these contracts. However, we also have general account products that share the investment and asset/liability risks with the customer and that feature a crediting rate that is periodically adjusted to reflect the experience associated with these risks. Profits from our general account products result from the spread between the rate of return on the investments we make and the interest rates we credit, less expenses. The credited interest rates we offer are impacted by many factors, including the financial strength ratings of our domestic insurance companies. A limited amount of our in force GIC business may be redeemed at the option of the holder prior to the contract’s final maturity date.

 

We offer fee-based separate account and synthetic GICs, through which customers’ funds are held in either a separate account or a client-owned trust. We pass investment results through to the customer, subject to a minimum interest rate guarantee. To the extent that Prudential Financial’s asset management units are selected to manage client assets associated with fee-based products, those units also earn asset management fees.

 

Lifetime Income Products

 

We also offer traditional general and separate account products designed to provide a predictable source of lifetime income, such as voluntary income products, close-out annuities and structured settlements, fulfilling the distribution needs of defined contribution participants, the payment obligations of defined benefit plans, and the payment guarantee needs of the personal injury lawsuit settlement market. Each product typically has a unique distribution channel. With our general account products, the obligation to make annuity payments to our annuitants is backed by our general account assets, and we bear all of the investment, mortality, retirement, and asset/liability management risk associated with these contracts. Our profits from voluntary income products, close-out annuities, and structured settlements result from the excess of the returns we earn on the investments

 

16


Table of Contents

we make over the cost of providing benefits under the contracts, which include factors such as the timing of retirements, mortality experience and administrative expenses.

 

We also offer participating separate account annuity contracts, which are fee-based products that cover payments to retirees to be made by defined benefit plans. These contracts permit a plan sponsor to retain the risks and rewards of investment and actuarial results while receiving a general account guarantee for all annuity payments covered by the contract. To the extent that Prudential Financial’s asset management units are selected to manage client assets associated with fee-based products, those units also earn asset management fees.

 

Marketing and Distribution

 

We distribute our products through a variety of channels. In our DC and DB businesses, we sell our products and services through financial advisors of our Wachovia joint venture, as well as through other third-party financial advisors, brokers, and benefits consultants and, to a lesser extent, directly to plan sponsors. We employ a centralized wholesaling force, as well as field sales representatives who manage our distribution efforts in offices across the country.

 

Prior to 2003, we sold GICs and funding agreements primarily to institutional investors through our direct sales force and through intermediaries. In 2003, we broadened our distribution by establishing a Funding Agreement Notes Issuance Program, or FANIP, pursuant to which a Delaware statutory trust issues medium-term notes secured by funding agreements issued to the trust by Prudential Insurance. The medium-term notes are sold through intermediaries under Rule 144A and Regulation S of the Securities Act. In addition, a portion of Prudential Financial’s SEC-registered medium-term notes program is allocated for sales to retail investors. The proceeds from the sale of the retail notes are used by Prudential Financial to purchase funding agreements from Prudential Insurance. The FANIP notes and the retail notes represent spread products as discussed above under “—Structured and Stable Value Products.”

 

Our Lifetime Income products are distributed through a variety of channels. Voluntary income products are distributed through the DC and DB businesses, directly to plan sponsors or as part of annuity shopping services. Close-out annuities and participating separate account products are typically distributed through actuarial consultants. Finally, structured settlements are distributed through structured settlement specialists.

 

Underwriting and Pricing

 

We set our rates for guaranteed products using a proprietary pricing model that considers the investment environment and our risk, expense and profitability assumptions. For Lifetime Income products, our model also uses proprietary assumptions for mortality and early retirement risks. Upon sale of a product, we adjust the duration of our asset portfolio and lock in the prevailing interest rates. Business unit management continuously monitors cash flow experience and works closely with our Asset Liability and Risk Management Group to review performance and ensure compliance with our investment policy.

 

Reserves

 

We establish reserves and policyholder fund liabilities to recognize our future benefit obligations for our products. Our liabilities for accumulation products generally represent cumulative contractholder account balances. Our liabilities for our payout annuity products represent the present value of future guaranteed benefits plus maintenance expenses and are based on our own actuarial assumptions. We perform a cash flow analysis in conjunction with determining our reserves for future policy benefits.

 

17


Table of Contents

International Insurance and Investments Division

 

The International Insurance and Investments division conducts its business through the International Insurance and International Investments segments.

 

International Insurance

 

Our International Insurance segment manufactures and distributes individual life insurance products to the mass affluent and affluent markets in Japan, Korea and other foreign countries through Life Planners. In addition, we offer similar products to the broad middle income market across Japan through Life Advisors, who are associated with our separately-operated Gibraltar Life Insurance Company, Ltd., or Gibraltar Life, operations, which we acquired in April 2001. We commenced sales in foreign markets using the Life Planner model, as follows: Japan, 1988; Taiwan, 1990; Italy, 1990; Korea, 1991; Brazil, 1998; Argentina, 1999; the Philippines, 1999; and Poland, 2000. We also have a representative office in China.

 

We manage each country operation on a stand-alone basis with local management and sales teams initially supported by senior International Insurance staff based in Asia and Newark, New Jersey. Each operation has its own marketing, underwriting and claims and investment management functions, with the exception of Japan, for which a large portion of the investment portfolio is managed by our International Investments segment. Each operation invests predominantly in local currency securities, typically bonds issued by the local government or its agencies. In our larger operations, we have more diversified portfolios.

 

On November 1, 2004, we acquired Aoba Life Insurance Company, Ltd., or Aoba Life, for $191 million of total consideration. Aoba Life is a Japanese life insurer with a run-off book of insurance contracts that was formerly owned by Artemis S.A., a French investment holding company. Aoba Life is the successor entity to the former Nissan Mutual Life Insurance Company that was restructured in June 1997. We merged Aoba Life into our Life Planner operation in Japan in February 2005.

 

Products

 

We currently offer various traditional whole life, term life and endowment policies, which provide for payment on the earlier of death or maturity. In some of our operations we also offer certain health products with fixed benefits. We also offer variable life products in Japan and Korea and interest-sensitive life products in Japan, Taiwan and Argentina. Generally, our international insurance products are non-participating and denominated in local currency, with the exception of products in Argentina, which are mostly U.S. dollar denominated, and certain policies in Japan and Korea that are also U.S. dollar denominated. For these dollar denominated products, both premiums and benefits are payable in U.S. dollars.

 

Marketing and Distribution

 

The following table sets forth the number of Life Planners and Life Advisors, as well as the number of field managers and agencies for the periods indicated.

 

     Japan

     Excluding Gibraltar Life

   Gibraltar Life

     As of December 31,

   As of December 31,

       2004  

   2003

   2002

   2004

   2003

   2002

Number of Life Planners/Life Advisors

   2,550    2,347    2,119    4,970    4,826    5,155

Number of field managers

   368    358    325    615    603    620

Number of agencies

   70    60    51    81    80    77

 

     All Other Countries

   Total

     As of December 31,

   As of December 31,

     2004

   2003

   2002

   2004

   2003

   2002

Number of Life Planners/Life Advisors

   2,835    2,642    2,386    10,355    9,815    9,660

Number of field managers

   598    543    472    1,581    1,504    1,417

Number of agencies

   142    118    101    293    258    229

 

18


Table of Contents

Life Planner Model

 

Our Life Planner model is significantly different from the way traditional industry participants offer life insurance in Japan and in most of the other countries where we do business. It differs from the way we market through the Life Advisors of Gibraltar Life as well. We believe that our selection standards, training, supervision and compensation package are key to the Life Planner model and have helped our International Insurance segment achieve higher rates of agent retention, agent productivity and policy persistency than our local competitors. In general, we recruit Life Planners with:

 

    university degrees, so that the Life Planner will have the same educational background and outlook as the target customer;

 

    a minimum of two to three years of sales or sales management experience;

 

    no life insurance sales experience; and

 

    a pattern of job stability and success.

 

The Life Planner’s objective is to sell protection-oriented life insurance products on a needs basis to mass affluent and affluent customers.

 

Life Advisors

 

Our Life Advisors are the proprietary distribution force for products offered by Gibraltar Life. Their focus is to provide individual protection products to the broad middle income market in Japan, particularly through relationships with affinity groups. In July 2001, we introduced a new compensation plan designed to improve productivity and persistency that is similar to compensation plans in our other International Insurance operations. Following the acquisition of Gibraltar Life, through 2003, the number of Life Advisors decreased as we instituted measures to increase the cost-effectiveness of this distribution channel including the transitioning of a compensation structure that was formerly based mainly on fixed compensation, to variable compensation based on sales production. The number of Life Advisors increased in 2004 following the completion of our phase-in of minimum production requirements in the second half of that year and subsequently increased recruiting. We believe that the size of the Life Advisor sales force has been stabilized.

 

Underwriting and Pricing

 

Our International Insurance segment is subject to substantial local regulation that is generally more restrictive for product offerings, pricing and structure than U.S. insurance regulation. Each International Insurance operation has its own underwriting department that employs variations of our domestic practices in underwriting individual policy risks. In setting underwriting limits, we also consider local industry standards to prevent adverse selection and to stay abreast of industry trends. In addition, we set underwriting limits together with each operation’s reinsurers.

 

Pricing of individual life insurance products, particularly in Japan and Korea, is more regulated than in the U.S. In Japan, premiums are different for participating and non-participating products, but within each product type they are generally similar for all companies. Mortality and morbidity rates and interest rates that we use to calculate premiums are restricted by regulation on the basis of product type. Interest rates do not always reflect the market rates we earn on our investments, and, as a result, we experience negative spreads between the rate we guarantee and the rate we earn on investments. These spreads had a negative impact on the results of our Japanese insurance operations, other than Gibraltar Life, over the past three years, and the profitability on our products in Japan from these operations results primarily from margins on mortality, morbidity and expense charges.

 

Reserves

 

We establish and carry as liabilities actuarially determined reserves that we believe will meet our future obligations. We base fixed death benefit reserves on assumptions we believe to be appropriate for investment yield, persistency, mortality and morbidity rates, expenses and margins for adverse deviation. In Japan, Korea

 

19


Table of Contents

and Argentina, we set reserves for variable and interest-sensitive life products according to premiums collected plus investment results credited less charges for cost of insurance and administration fees.

 

Reinsurance

 

International Insurance reinsures portions of its insurance risks with both selected third party reinsurers and Prudential Insurance under reinsurance agreements primarily on a yearly renewable term basis. International Insurance also buys catastrophe reinsurance that covers multiple deaths from a single occurrence in our Life Planner operations in Japan, Taiwan and Brazil and has a coinsurance agreement with Prudential Insurance for U.S. dollar denominated business in Japan.

 

International Investments

 

Our International Investments segment offers proprietary and non-proprietary asset management, investment advice and product choice services to high net worth and mass affluent retail clients and to institutional clients in selected international markets. These services are marketed through our own and third party distribution networks and encompass the businesses of international investments and global derivatives, described in more detail below.

 

On February 27, 2004, we acquired an 80 percent interest in Hyundai Investment and Securities Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary, Hyundai Investment Trust Management Co., Ltd., from the Korean Deposit Insurance Corporation, an agency of the Korean government, for $301 million in cash, including $210 million used to repay debt assumed. We may choose to acquire, or be required to acquire, the remaining 20 percent three to six years after the closing. Subsequent to the acquisition, the company was renamed Prudential Investment & Securities Co., Ltd. and its results are included within our international investments operations discussed below. As a result of this acquisition, Prudential is the largest foreign-owned asset manager in Korea in terms of assets under management. See Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the acquisition.

 

Our international investments operations include manufacturing of proprietary products and distribution of both proprietary and non-proprietary products, tailored to meet client needs. In this business, we invest in asset management and distribution businesses in targeted countries to expand our mass affluent customer base outside the U.S. and to increase our global assets under management. Additionally, this business manages a large portion of the general account investment portfolio of our international insurance operations in Japan.

 

Our global derivatives operations provide advice, sales and trading on a global basis covering a wide variety of commodity, financial and foreign exchange futures and forward contracts, including agricultural commodities, base and precious metals, major currencies, interest rate and stock indices. We conduct these operations through offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and are members of most major futures exchanges. Our client base is primarily institutional. We conduct futures transactions on margin according to the regulations of the different futures exchanges.

 

Corporate and Other Operations

 

Our Corporate and Other operations include corporate-level activities that we do not allocate to our business segments and our real estate and relocation services operations, and certain wind-down and divested businesses, except for business that qualified for discontinued operations accounting treatment.

 

Corporate-Level Activities

 

Corporate-level activities consist primarily of corporate-level income and expenses, after allocation to any of our business segments, including costs for company-wide initiatives and income from our qualified pension plans, as well as investment returns on our capital that is not deployed in any of our segments. Corporate-level activities also include returns from investments that we do not allocate to any of our business segments and the

 

20


Table of Contents

impact of transactions with other segments. In addition, Corporate-level activities include certain retained obligations relating to policyholders whom we had previously agreed to provide insurance for reduced or no premium in accordance with contractual settlements related to prior individual life insurance sales practices remediation.

 

Residential Real Estate Brokerage Franchise and Relocation Services

 

Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services is our integrated real estate brokerage franchise and relocation services business. The real estate group markets franchises primarily to existing real estate companies. Our franchise agreements grant the franchisee the right to use the Prudential name and real estate service marks in return for royalty payments on gross commissions generated by the franchisees. The franchises generally are independently owned and operated. This business also has a finance subsidiary that makes debt and equity investments in a limited number of franchisees. In 2004, we purchased an internet-based real estate company to provide consumer referrals to the franchise network.

 

Our relocation group offers institutional clients a variety of services in connection with the relocation of their employees. These services include coordination of appraisal, inspection and sale of relocating employees’ homes, equity advances to relocating employees, assistance in locating homes at the relocating employee’s destination, household goods moving services, client cost-tracking and a variety of relocation policy and group move consulting services.

 

Wind-down Businesses

 

Assumed Reinsurance

 

We have not actively engaged in the life reinsurance market since the early 1990s; however, we remain subject to mortality risk for certain assumed individual life insurance polices.

 

Individual Health

 

In 1992, we ceased writing individual disability income policies and a year later ceased writing hospital expense and major medical policies due to declining sales and poor financial results. Most of our disability income policies are non-cancelable, which means that we can neither change the premium nor cancel the coverage. The 1997 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act guarantees renewal of all hospital and medical expense policies. Under certain circumstances, we are permitted to change the premiums charged for individual health coverage if we can demonstrate that the premiums have not been sufficient to pay claims and expenses. As of July 1, 1999, we reinsured all the disability income policies.

 

Canadian Operations

 

We have retained and continue to service several blocks of insurance not sold with our divested Canadian businesses described under “—Divested Businesses—Other” below. A significant portion of the retained business constitutes individual life insurance for which we have waived the premium.

 

Divested Businesses

 

The following operations are businesses that have been or will be sold or exited that did not qualify for “discontinued operations” accounting treatment under GAAP. We include the results of these divested businesses in our income from continuing operations, but we exclude these results from our adjusted operating income. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Consolidated Results of Operations” for an explanation of adjusted operating income.

 

Dryden Wealth Management

 

In the fourth quarter of 2004, we decided to exit our private wealth management business, which offers financial advisory, private banking and portfolio management services primarily to retail investors in Europe and

 

21


Table of Contents

Asia. Results for the fourth quarter of 2004 reflect a charge of $53 million for impairment of goodwill associated with this business. As we have not yet committed to any specific course of action, we are not currently able to provide an estimate of future charges, if any, that might be required in connection with selling or exiting this business.

 

Property and Casualty Insurance

 

In the fourth quarter of 2003, we sold our property and casualty insurance companies that operated nationally in 48 states outside of New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, to Liberty Mutual Group and our New Jersey property and casualty insurance companies to Palisades Group. Historically, the companies we sold manufactured and distributed personal lines property and casualty insurance products, principally automobile and homeowners coverages, to the U.S. retail market.

 

We have reinsured Liberty Mutual for certain losses, including any further adverse loss development on the stop-loss reinsurance agreement with Everest Re Group, Ltd., or Everest, discussed below; any adverse loss development on losses occurring prior to the sale that arise from insurance contracts generated through certain discontinued distribution channels or due to certain loss events, including mold damage or the California wildfires of October 2003; stop-loss protection on losses occurring after the sale and arising from those same distribution channels of up to $95 million, in excess of related premiums and other adjustments; and stop-loss protection on losses occurring prior to the sale and arising from most other business for up to 75% of the first $30 million of adverse loss development recorded through October 31, 2005. The reinsurance covering the losses associated with the discontinued distribution channels will be settled based upon loss experience through December 31, 2008 with a provision that profits on the insurance business from these channels will be shared, with Liberty Mutual receiving up to $20 million of the first $50 million. We believe that we have adequately reserved for the obligations under these reinsurance contracts based on the current information available; however, we may be required to take additional charges in the future that could be material to our results of operations in a particular quarterly or annual period.

 

We have agreed not to compete with the buyers. In New Jersey, the non-compete agreement is effective until the earlier of December 31, 2008 or the termination of our distribution agreement with Palisades Group. Outside of New Jersey, the non-compete agreement is effective until the later of December 31, 2006 or the termination of our distribution agreement with Liberty Mutual.

 

Prudential Securities Capital Markets

 

In the fourth quarter of 2000, we announced a restructuring of Prudential Securities’ activities to implement a fundamental shift in our business strategy. We subsequently exited the lead-managed equity underwriting business for corporate issuers and the institutional fixed income business. As of December 31, 2004 we had remaining assets amounting to $386 million related to Prudential Securities’ institutional fixed income activities.

 

Gibraltar Casualty

 

In September 2000, we sold all of the stock of Gibraltar Casualty Company a commercial property and casualty insurer that we had placed in wind-down status in 1985, to Everest. As of the date of sale, Gibraltar Casualty’s largest continuing exposures were potential liabilities for asbestos and environmental claims. Upon closing of the sale, a subsidiary of the Company entered into a stop-loss reinsurance agreement with Everest whereby the subsidiary reinsured Everest for up to 80% of the first $200 million of any adverse loss development in excess of Gibraltar Casualty’s carried reserves as of the closing of the sale to Everest. This subsidiary was subsequently sold to Liberty Mutual, as part of the sale discussed above. The $106 million of reserves at the closing date of the sale to Liberty Mutual related to the reinsurance agreement with Everest remained the direct obligation of this subsidiary, and therefore those reserves are no longer included on our balance sheet. As discussed above, we reinsured Liberty Mutual with regard to any further adverse loss development on the stop-loss reinsurance agreement with Everest and recorded a liability for the remaining $54 million of this obligation in 2003 under the reinsurance contracts with Liberty Mutual.

 

22


Table of Contents

Other

 

We previously marketed individual and group life insurance, annuities and group health insurance in Canada through a Canadian branch of Prudential Insurance and through Prudential of America Life Insurance Company, or PALIC, as well as property and casualty insurance through other Canadian operations. In 1996, we sold substantially all of the Canadian branch’s operations and policies in force and all of our Canadian property and casualty operations. In 2000, we sold our interest in PALIC. We have indemnified the purchasers of both the Canadian branch and PALIC for certain liabilities with respect to claims related to sales practices or market conduct issues arising from operations prior to the sale, except for the sale of the property and casualty insurance operations. We also remain subject to mortality risk related to certain policies sold by PALIC under assumed reinsurance.

 

Prior to May 1996, we conducted substantial residential first mortgage banking and related operations through The Prudential Home Mortgage Company, Inc. and its affiliates. During 1996 and 1997, we sold substantially all of the operations, mortgage loan inventory and loan servicing rights of this business. In 2002, we negotiated a release from future indemnification obligations with Wells Fargo, buyer of the largest portion of the portfolio, related to pre-sale activity. However, we remain liable with respect to certain claims concerning these operations prior to sale. While we believe that we have adequately reserved in all material respects for the remaining liabilities, we may be required to take additional charges in the future that could be material to our results of operations in any particular quarterly or annual period.

 

Discontinued Operations

 

Discontinued operations reflects the results of the following businesses which qualified for “discontinued operations” accounting treatment under GAAP:

 

    We sold substantially all of the assets and liabilities of our group managed and indemnity healthcare business to Aetna Inc. in 1999.

 

    We discontinued our web-based business for the workplace distribution of voluntary benefits, which included an impairment of our investment in a vendor of the distribution platform, in the third quarter of 2002.

 

    We discontinued certain branches of our international securities operations in the fourth quarter of 2002. In the fourth quarter of 2004 we discontinued the remaining branches of our international securities operations.

 

    We discontinued our retail broker-dealer operations in Tokyo in the fourth quarter of 2002 and subsequently sold these operations in the third quarter of 2003.

 

    We discontinued our specialty automobile insurance business in the first quarter of 2003 and subsequently sold these operations in the third quarter of 2003.

 

    We discontinued our existing consumer banking business in the third quarter of 2003 and subsequently sold these operations in 2004.

 

    We discontinued our work-place distribution property and casualty insurance operations in the fourth quarter of 2003. We subsequently sold these operations in the first quarter of 2004.

 

Closed Block Business

 

In connection with the demutualization, we ceased offering domestic participating individual life insurance products, under which policyholders are eligible to receive policyholder dividends reflecting experience. The liabilities for our individual in force participating products were segregated, together with assets that will be used exclusively for the payment of benefits and policyholder dividends, expenses and taxes with respect to these products, in the Closed Block. We selected the amount of Closed Block Assets so that the Closed Block Assets initially had a lower book value than the Closed Block Liabilities. We expect that the Closed Block Assets will

 

23


Table of Contents

generate sufficient cash flow, together with anticipated revenues from the Closed Block Policies, over the life of the Closed Block to fund payments of all expenses, taxes, and policyholder benefits to be paid to, and the reasonable dividend expectations of, holders of the Closed Block Policies. We also segregated for accounting purposes the Surplus and Related Assets that we need to hold outside the Closed Block to meet capital requirements related to the policies included within the Closed Block. No policies sold after demutualization will be added to the Closed Block, and its in force business is expected to ultimately decline as we pay policyholder benefits in full. We also expect the proportion of our business represented by the Closed Block to decline as we grow other businesses. For a discussion of the Closed Block Business, see “—Demutualization and Separation of the Businesses-Separation of the Businesses.”

 

Our strategy for the Closed Block Business is to maintain the Closed Block as required by our Plan of Reorganization over the time period of its gradual diminishment as policyholder benefits are paid in full. We are permitted under the Plan of Reorganization, with the prior consent of the New Jersey Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, to enter into agreements to transfer to a third party all or any part of the risks under the Closed Block policies. As of December 31, 2004, we have entered into reinsurance agreements covering approximately 70% of the Closed Block policies. As discussed in Note 9 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, if the performance of the Closed Block is more favorable than we originally assumed in funding, we will pay the excess to Closed Block policyholders as additional policyholder dividends, and it will not be available to shareholders. See Note 20 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for revenues, income and loss, and total assets of the Closed Block Business.

 

Intangible and Intellectual Property

 

We use numerous federal, state and foreign service marks and trademarks. We believe that the goodwill associated with many of our service marks and trademarks, particularly “Prudential,” ® “Prudential Financial,” ® “Growing and Protecting Your Wealth” ® and our “Rock” ® logo, are significant competitive assets in the U.S.

 

On April 20, 2004, we entered into a service mark and trademark agreement with Prudential plc of the United Kingdom, with whom we have no affiliation, concerning the parties’ respective rights worldwide to use the names “Prudential” and “Pru.” The agreement is intended to avoid customer confusion in areas where both companies compete. Under the agreement, there are restrictions on our use of the “Prudential” name and mark in a number of countries outside the Americas, including Europe and parts of Asia. Where these limitations apply, we combine our “Rock” logo with alternative word marks. We believe that these limitations do not materially affect our ability to operate or expand internationally.

 

Ratings

 

Claims-paying and credit ratings are important factors affecting public confidence in an insurer and its competitive position in marketing products. Rating organizations continually review the financial performance and condition of insurers, including Prudential Insurance and our other insurance company subsidiaries. Our credit ratings are also important to our ability to raise capital through the issuance of debt and to the cost of such financing.

 

24


Table of Contents

Claims-paying ratings, which are sometimes referred to as “financial strength” ratings, represent the opinions of rating agencies regarding the financial ability of an insurance company to meet its obligations under an insurance policy. Credit ratings represent the opinions of rating agencies regarding an entity’s ability to repay its indebtedness. The following table summarizes the ratings for Prudential Financial, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries as of the date of this filing.

 

    

A.M.

Best(1)


   S&P(2)

   Moody’s(3)

  Fitch(4)

Insurance Claims-Paying Ratings:

                  

The Prudential Insurance Company of America

   A+    AA-    Aa3   AA-

PRUCO Life Insurance Company

   A+    AA-    Aa3   AA-

PRUCO Life Insurance Company of New Jersey

   A+    AA-    NR*   NR

American Skandia Life Assurance Corporation

   A+    AA-    NR   AA-

Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company

   A+    AA-    NR   NR

The Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (Prudential of Japan)

   A+    AA-    NR   NR

Gibraltar Life Insurance Company, Ltd.

   NR    AA-    A1   NR

Credit Ratings:

                  

Prudential Financial, Inc.:

                  

Short-term borrowings

   AMB-1    A-2    P-2   F1

Long-term senior debt

   a-    A-    A3   A

Retail notes

   a-    A-    A3   NR

The Prudential Insurance Company of America:

                  

Capital and surplus notes

   a    A    A2   A

Prudential Funding, LLC:

                  

Short-term debt

   AMB-1    A-1+    P-1   F1

Long-term senior debt

   a+    AA-    A1   A+

PRICOA Global Funding I

   aa-    AA-    Aa3   AA-

*   “NR” indicates not rated.
(1)   A.M. Best Company, which we refer to as A.M. Best, claims-paying ratings for insurance companies currently range from “A++ (superior)” to “F (in liquidation).” A.M. Best’s ratings reflect its opinion of an insurance company’s financial strength, operating performance and ability to meet its obligations to policyholders.
    An A.M. Best long-term credit rating is an opinion of the capacity and willingness of an obligor to pay interest and principal in accordance with the terms of the obligation. A.M. Best long-term credit ratings range from “aaa (exceptional)” to “d (in default),” with ratings from “aaa” to “bbb” considered as investment grade. An A.M. Best short-term credit rating reflects an opinion of the issuer’s fundamental credit quality. Ratings range from “AMB-1+,” which represents an exceptional ability to repay short-term debt obligations, to “AMB-4,” which correlates with a speculative (“bb”) long-term rating.
(2)   Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, which we refer to as S&P, claims-paying ratings currently range from “AAA (extremely strong)” to “R (regulatory supervision).” These ratings reflect S&P’s opinion of an operating insurance company’s financial capacity to meet the obligations of its insurance policies in accordance with their terms. A “+” or “-” indicates relative strength within a category.
    An S&P credit rating is a current opinion of the creditworthiness of an obligor with respect to a specific financial obligation, a specific class of financial obligations or a specific financial program. S&P’s long-term issue credit ratings range from “AAA (extremely strong)” to “D (default).” S&P short-term ratings range from “A-1 (highest category)” to “D (default).”
(3)   Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., which we refer to as Moody’s, insurance claims-paying ratings currently range from “Aaa (exceptional)” to “C (lowest).” Moody’s insurance ratings reflect the ability of insurance companies to repay punctually senior policyholder claims and obligations. Numeric modifiers are used to refer to the ranking within the group—with 1 being the highest and 3 being the lowest. However, the financial strength of companies within a generic rating symbol (“Aa” for example) is broadly the same.
    Moody’s credit ratings currently range from “Aaa (highest)” to “C (default).” Moody’s credit ratings grade debt according to its investment quality. Moody’s considers “A1,” “A2” and “A3” rated debt to be upper medium grade obligations, subject to low credit risk. Moody’s short-term ratings are opinions of the ability of issuers to honor senior financial obligations and contracts. Prime ratings range from “Prime-1 (P-1),” which represents a superior ability for repayment of senior short-term debt obligations, to “Prime-3 (P-3),” which represents an acceptable ability for repayment of such obligations. Issuers rated “Not Prime” do not fall within any of the Prime rating categories.
(4)   Fitch Ratings Ltd., which we refer to as Fitch, claims-paying ratings currently range from “AAA (exceptionally strong)” to “D (distressed).” Fitch’s ratings reflect its assessment of the likelihood of timely payment of policyholder and contractholder obligations.
    Fitch long-term ratings currently range from “AAA (highest credit quality),” which denotes exceptionally strong capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, to “D (default).” Investment grade ratings range between “AAA” and “BBB.” Short-term ratings range from “F1 (highest credit quality)” to “C (high default risk).” Within long-term and short-term ratings, a “+” or a “–” may be appended to a rating to denote relative status with major rating categories.

 

The ratings set forth above with respect to Prudential Financial, Prudential Funding, LLC, Prudential Insurance and our other insurance and financing subsidiaries reflect current opinions of each rating organization with respect to claims-paying ability, financial strength, operating performance and ability to meet obligations to

 

25


Table of Contents

policyholders or debt holders, as the case may be. These ratings are of concern to policyholders, agents and intermediaries. They are not directed toward stockholders and do not in any way reflect evaluations of the safety and security of the Common Stock. A downgrade in our claims-paying or credit ratings could limit our ability to market products, increase the number or value of policies being surrendered and/or hurt our relationships with creditors or trading counterparties. Our claims-paying ratings are an important factor affecting public confidence in most of our products and, as a result, our competitiveness. The interest rates we pay on our borrowings are largely dependent on our credit ratings. Provided below is a discussion of the major rating changes that occurred during 2004.

 

On February 19, 2004, A.M. Best upgraded the financial strength ratings of Prudential Insurance and our domestic insurance operations to “A+” from “A.” In addition, the short-term credit ratings for Prudential Financial and Prudential Funding, LLC were upgraded to “AMB-1.”

 

In conjunction with our acquisition of CIGNA’s retirement business on April 1, 2004, A.M. Best assigned an “A+” rating to PRIAC, and S&P assigned an “A+” rating. Neither Moody’s nor Fitch currently provides a financial strength rating for PRIAC.

 

On October 13, 2004, Moody’s upgraded the financial strength rating of Prudential Insurance to “Aa3” from “A1” and affirmed Prudential Financial’s long-term credit rating on its senior debt at “A3.” On November 12, 2004, Moody’s upgraded the financial strength rating of Gibraltar Life to “A1” from “A2.”

 

On November 30, 2004, S&P upgraded the financial strength ratings of Prudential Insurance and our domestic insurance operations, including PRIAC, to “AA-” from “A+.” S&P also raised its financial strength rating on Gibraltar Life to “AA-” from “A” and affirmed Prudential Financial’s long-term credit rating on its senior debt at “A-.” In addition, the short-term credit rating for Prudential Funding, LLC was raised to “A-1+” from “A-1.”

 

Competition

 

In each of our businesses we face intense competition from domestic and foreign insurance companies, asset managers and diversified financial institutions. Many of our competitors are large and well-capitalized and some have higher claims-paying or credit ratings than we do. We compete in our businesses generally on the basis of price, quality of service, scope of distribution, quality of products and brand recognition. The relative importance of these factors varies across our products and the markets we serve.

 

In recent years, there has been substantial consolidation among companies in the financial services industry. We expect consolidation to continue and perhaps accelerate. The trend toward consolidation in the financial services industry may result in competitors with increased market shares, or the introduction of larger or financially stronger competitors through acquisitions or otherwise, in lines of business in which we compete.

 

Certain of our products compete on the basis of investment performance. A material decline in the investment performance of these products could have an adverse effect on our sales. Rankings and ratings of investment performance have a significant effect on our ability to increase our assets under management.

 

Competition for personnel in all of our businesses is intense, including for Prudential Agents, other captive sales personnel and our investment managers. In the ordinary course of business, we lose personnel from time to time in whom we have invested significant training. We are directing substantial efforts on improving recruiting and retention and on increasing the productivity of our agents. The loss of key investment managers could have a material adverse effect on our Asset Management segment.

 

Many of our businesses are in industries where access to multiple sales channels may be a competitive advantage. We believe that insurance and investment products will continue to be sold primarily through face-to-face sales channels, although customers’ desire for objective and not product-related advice will, over time, increase the amount of insurance and investment products sold through non-affiliated distributors such as independent agents, insurance brokers and investment advisors. In addition, we expect that insurance and investment products will increasingly be sold through direct marketing, including through electronic commerce.

 

26


Table of Contents

The proliferation and growth of multiple sales channels puts pressure on our face-to-face sales channels to either increase their productivity or reduce their costs. We continue our efforts to strengthen and broaden our sales channels, but we cannot assure they will be successful. We run the risk that the marketplace will make a more significant or rapid shift to non-affiliated and direct distribution alternatives than we anticipate or are able to achieve ourselves. If this happens, our market share and results of operations could be adversely affected.

 

Our ability to sell traditional guaranteed products depends significantly on our claims-paying ratings. A downgrade in our claims-paying ratings could adversely affect our ability to sell our insurance products and reduce our profitability.

 

Our international life insurance business, other than Gibraltar Life, competes by focusing on a limited market using our Life Planner model to offer high quality service and needs-based protection products. Certain competitors, including Sony Life in Japan, employ or seek to employ versions of the Life Planner model. Others have copied some features of the Life Planner model and have targeted our Life Planners for recruitment. The success of our model in some markets makes us vulnerable to imitation and targeted recruitment of our sales force.

 

Regulation

 

Overview

 

Our businesses are subject to comprehensive regulation and supervision. The purpose of these regulations is primarily to protect our customers and not our shareholders. Many of the laws and regulations to which we are subject are regularly re-examined, and existing or future laws and regulations may become more restrictive or otherwise adversely affect our operations. U.S. law and regulation of our international business, particularly as it relates to monitoring customer activities, is likely to increase as a result of terrorist activity in the U.S. and abroad and may affect our ability to attract and retain customers.

 

Our international operations face political, legal, operational and other risks that we do not face in our U.S. operations, including the risk of discriminatory regulation, nationalization or expropriation of assets, price controls and exchange controls or other restrictions that prevent us from transferring funds from these operations out of the countries in which they operate or converting local currencies we hold into U.S. dollars or other currencies.

 

The discussion below is primarily focused on applicable U.S. regulation. Our international operations are subject to similar types of regulation in the jurisdictions in which they operate. In particular, it is becoming increasingly common for regulatory developments in the U.S. to be studied and adopted in some form in other jurisdictions in which we do business. In some instances, such jurisdictions may also impose different or more rigorous laws and requirements, including regulations governing consumer privacy protection, employee protection, corporate governance and capital adequacy.

 

Insurance Operations

 

State insurance laws regulate all aspects of our domestic insurance businesses, and state insurance departments in the fifty states, the District of Columbia and various U.S. territories and possessions monitor our insurance operations. Prudential Insurance is organized in New Jersey and its principal insurance regulatory authority is the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. Our other insurance companies are principally regulated by the insurance departments of the states in which they are organized. Our international insurance operations are principally regulated by non-U.S. insurance regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions in which they operate, including the Japanese Ministry of Finance and Financial Services Agency. Generally, our insurance products must be approved by the insurance regulators in the state in which they are sold. Our insurance products are substantially affected by federal, state and non-U.S. tax laws. Products in the U.S. that also constitute “securities,” such as variable life insurance and variable annuities, are also subject to federal and state securities laws and regulations. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., or the NASD, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, state securities commissions and non-U.S. authorities for products offered outside the U.S. regulate and supervise these products.

 

27


Table of Contents

Investment Products and Asset Management Operations

 

Our investment products and services are subject to federal, state and non-U.S. securities, fiduciary, including the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, and other laws and regulations. The SEC, the NASD, state securities commissions, state insurance departments, the United States Department of Labor and similar non-U.S. authorities, such as the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority, or the FSA, are the principal regulators that regulate our asset management operations. Federal, state and non-U.S. tax laws also substantially affect our investment products and services.

 

Securities Operations

 

Our securities operations, principally conducted by a number of SEC-registered broker-dealers and non-U.S. broker-dealers, are subject to federal, state and non-U.S. securities, commodities and related laws. The SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or the CFTC, state securities authorities, the New York Stock Exchange, or the NYSE, the NASD and similar U.S. and non-U.S. authorities, such as the FSA, are the principal regulators of our securities operations.

 

Regulation Affecting Prudential Financial

 

Prudential Financial is the holding company for all of our operations. Prudential Financial itself is not licensed as an insurer, investment advisor, broker-dealer, bank or other regulated entity. However, because it owns regulated entities, Prudential Financial is subject to regulation as an insurance holding company and, as discussed under “—Other Businesses” below, a savings and loan holding company. As a company with publicly traded securities, Prudential Financial is subject to legal and regulatory requirements applicable generally to public companies, including the rules and regulations of the SEC and the NYSE relating to public reporting and disclosure, securities trading, accounting and financial reporting, and corporate governance matters. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and rules and regulations adopted in furtherance of that Act have substantially increased the requirements in these and other areas for public companies such as Prudential Financial.

 

The European Union has adopted a directive, to be enacted by its member states, which will subject financial groups operating within the European Union, including their operations outside the European Union, to broad capital adequacy and other regulatory requirements. The application of this directive to Prudential Financial, in particular whether it will result in new solvency oversight, is presently uncertain.

 

Insurance Holding Company Regulation

 

Prudential Financial is subject to the insurance holding company laws in the states where our insurance subsidiaries are, or are treated as, organized, which currently include New Jersey, Arizona, Connecticut and Indiana. These laws generally require each insurance company directly or indirectly owned by the holding company to register with the insurance department in the insurance company’s state of domicile and to furnish annually financial and other information about the operations of companies within the holding company system. Generally, all transactions affecting the insurers in the holding company system must be fair and at arm’s length and, if material, require prior notice and approval or non-disapproval by the state’s insurance department.

 

Most states, including the states in which our insurance companies are domiciled, have insurance laws that require regulatory approval of a change of control of an insurer or an insurer’s holding company. Laws such as these that apply to us prevent any person from acquiring control of Prudential Financial or of our insurance subsidiaries unless that person has filed a statement with specified information with the insurance regulators and has obtained their prior approval. Under most states’ statutes, acquiring 10% or more of the voting stock of an insurance company or its parent company is presumptively considered a change of control, although such presumption may be rebutted. Accordingly, any person who acquires 10% or more of the voting securities of Prudential Financial without the prior approval of the insurance regulators of the states in which our insurance companies are domiciled will be in violation of these states’ laws and may be subject to injunctive action requiring the disposition or seizure of those securities by the relevant insurance regulator or prohibiting the voting of those securities and to other actions determined by the relevant insurance regulator.

 

In addition, many state insurance laws require prior notification of state insurance departments of a change in control of a non-domiciliary insurance company doing business in that state. While these prenotification

 

28


Table of Contents

statutes do not authorize the state insurance departments to disapprove the change in control, they authorize regulatory action in the affected state if particular conditions exist such as undue market concentration. Any future transactions that would constitute a change in control of Prudential Financial may require prior notification in those states that have adopted preacquisition notification laws.

 

These laws may discourage potential acquisition proposals and may delay, deter or prevent a change of control of Prudential Financial, including through transactions, and in particular unsolicited transactions, that some or all of the stockholders of Prudential Financial might consider desirable.

 

Insurance Operations

 

State Insurance Regulation

 

State insurance authorities have broad administrative powers with respect to all aspects of the insurance business including:

 

    licensing to transact business,

 

    licensing agents,

 

    admittance of assets to statutory surplus,

 

    regulating premium rates for certain insurance products,

 

    approving policy forms,

 

    regulating unfair trade and claims practices,

 

    establishing reserve requirements and solvency standards,

 

    fixing maximum interest rates on life insurance policy loans and minimum accumulation or surrender values, and

 

    regulating the type, amounts and valuations of investments permitted and other matters.

 

State insurance laws and regulations require our insurance companies to file financial statements with insurance departments everywhere they do business, and the operations of our insurance companies and accounts are subject to examination by those departments at any time. Our insurance companies prepare statutory financial statements in accordance with accounting practices and procedures prescribed or permitted by these departments.

 

State insurance departments conduct periodic examinations of the books and records, financial reporting, policy filings and market conduct of insurance companies domiciled in their states, generally once every three to five years. Examinations are generally carried out in cooperation with the insurance departments of other states under guidelines promulgated by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, or the NAIC. The New Jersey insurance regulator completed a financial examination of Prudential Insurance and its indirect insurance subsidiary, PRUCO Life Insurance Company of New Jersey, for each of the previous five years for the period ended December 31, 2001, and found no material deficiencies.

 

Financial Regulation

 

Dividend Payment Limitations.    The New Jersey insurance law and the insurance laws of the other states and countries in which our insurance companies are domiciled regulate the amount of dividends that may be paid by Prudential Insurance and our other insurance companies. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources” for more detail.

 

Risk-Based Capital.    In order to enhance the regulation of insurers’ solvency, the NAIC adopted a model law to implement risk-based capital requirements for life, health and property and casualty insurance companies. All states have adopted the NAIC’s model law or a substantially similar law. The risk-based capital, or RBC, calculation, which regulators use to assess the sufficiency of an insurer’s capital, measures the risk characteristics of a company’s assets, liabilities and certain off-balance sheet items. RBC is calculated by applying factors to

 

29


Table of Contents

various asset, premium and liability items. Within a given risk category, these factors are higher for those items with greater underlying risk and lower for items with lower underlying risk. Insurers that have less statutory capital than the RBC calculation requires are considered to have inadequate capital and are subject to varying degrees of regulatory action depending upon the level of capital inadequacy. The RBC ratios for each of our insurance companies currently are well above the ranges that would require any regulatory or corrective action.

 

The NAIC approved a series of statutory accounting principles that have been adopted, in some cases with modifications, by all state insurance regulators. The measurement of statutory capital under these principles has resulted in an increase in our RBC ratios.

 

IRIS Tests.    The NAIC has developed a set of financial relationships or tests known as the Insurance Regulatory Information System, or IRIS, to assist state regulators in monitoring the financial condition of insurance companies and identifying companies that require special attention or action by insurance regulatory authorities. Insurance companies generally submit data annually to the NAIC, which in turn analyzes the data using prescribed financial data ratios, each with defined “usual ranges.” Generally, regulators will begin to investigate or monitor an insurance company if its ratios fall outside the usual ranges for four or more of the ratios. If an insurance company has insufficient capital, regulators may act to reduce the amount of insurance it can issue. None of our insurance companies is currently subject to regulatory scrutiny based on these ratios.

 

Insurance Reserves.    State insurance laws require us to analyze the adequacy of our reserves annually. Our actuary must submit an opinion that our reserves, when considered in light of the assets we hold with respect to those reserves, make adequate provision for our contractual obligations and related expenses.

 

Market Conduct Regulation

 

State insurance laws and regulations include numerous provisions governing the marketplace activities of insurers, including provisions governing the form and content of disclosure to consumers, illustrations, advertising, sales practices and complaint handling. State regulatory authorities generally enforce these provisions through periodic market conduct examinations.

 

Insurance Guaranty Association Assessments

 

Each state has insurance guaranty association laws under which life and property and casualty insurers doing business in the state are members and may be assessed by state insurance guaranty associations for certain obligations of insolvent insurance companies to policyholders and claimants. Typically, states assess each member insurer in an amount related to the member insurer’s proportionate share of the business written by all member insurers in the state. For the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003, and 2002, we paid approximately $0.8 million, $1.2 million and $1.6 million, respectively, in assessments pursuant to state insurance guaranty association laws. While we cannot predict the amount and timing of any future assessments on our insurance companies under these laws, we have established reserves that we believe are adequate for assessments relating to insurance companies that are currently subject to insolvency proceedings.

 

State Securities Regulation

 

Our mutual funds, and in certain states our variable life insurance and variable annuity products, are “securities” within the meaning of state securities laws. As such, these products are subject to filing and certain other requirements. Also, sales activities with respect to these products generally are subject to state securities regulation. Such regulation may affect investment advice, sales and related activities for these products.

 

Federal Regulation

 

Our variable life insurance products, as well as our variable annuity and mutual fund products, generally are “securities” within the meaning of federal securities laws, registered under the federal securities laws and subject to regulation by the SEC and the NASD. Federal and some state securities regulation similar to that discussed below under “—Investment Products and Asset Management Operations” and “—Securities Operations” affect investment advice, sales and related activities with respect to these products. In addition, although the federal

 

30


Table of Contents

government does not comprehensively regulate the business of insurance, federal legislation and administrative policies in several areas, including taxation, financial services regulation and pension and welfare benefits regulation, can significantly affect the insurance industry. Congress also periodically considers and is considering laws affecting privacy of information and genetic testing that could significantly and adversely affect the insurance industry.

 

Tax Legislation

 

Current federal income tax laws generally permit certain holders to defer taxation on the build-up of value of annuities and life insurance products until payments are actually made to the policyholder or other beneficiary and to exclude from taxation the build-up of value which is paid as a death benefit under a life insurance contract. Congress from time to time considers legislation that could make our products less attractive to consumers, including legislation that would reduce or eliminate the benefit of this deferral on some annuities and insurance products, as well as other types of changes that could reduce or eliminate the attractiveness of annuities and life insurance products to consumers.

 

In June 2001, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 was enacted. The 2001 Act contains provisions that will, over time, significantly lower individual tax rates. This will have the effect of reducing the benefits of tax deferral on the build-up of value of annuities and life insurance products. The 2001 Act also includes provisions that will eliminate, over time, the estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes and partially eliminates the step-up in basis rule applicable to property held in a decedent’s estate. Some of these changes might hinder our sales and result in the increased surrender of insurance and annuity products.

 

In May 2003, the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 was enacted. Individual taxpayers are the principal beneficiaries of the 2003 Act, which includes an acceleration of certain of the income tax rate reductions enacted originally under the 2001 Act, as well as capital gains and dividend tax rate reductions. Although most of these rate reductions expire after 2008 or later, these reductions have the effect of reducing the benefits of tax deferral on the build-up of value of annuities and life insurance products. These changes may hinder our sales and result in increased surrender of insurance and annuity products.

 

In October of 2004, the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 was signed into law. The 2004 Act contains a provision that subjects the repatriation of foreign earnings to a reduced tax rate under certain circumstances. The maximum allowable amount to be considered for repatriation under the Act’s application to us is $2.24 billion (which is the amount of unrepatriated earnings disclosed in our 2002 financial statements); however, we are unable to reasonably estimate what portion, if any, of this amount we may repatriate.

 

Proposed changes to the Social Security program would allow a portion of an individual’s Social Security contributions to be privately invested. If enacted, depending on the form of the legislation, could affect sales of some of our products. The Bush Administration also continues to propose that many of the rate reductions described above be made permanent, as well as several tax-favored savings initiatives that, if enacted by Congress, could also adversely affect the sale of our annuity, life and tax-qualified retirement products and increase the surrender of such products.

 

ERISA

 

ERISA is a comprehensive federal statute that applies to employee benefit plans sponsored by private employers and labor unions. Plans subject to ERISA include pension and profit sharing plans and welfare plans, including health, life and disability plans. ERISA provisions include reporting and disclosure rules, standards of conduct that apply to plan fiduciaries and prohibitions on transactions known as “prohibited transactions,” such as conflict-of-interest transactions and certain transactions between a benefit plan and a party in interest. ERISA also provides for a scheme of civil and criminal penalties and enforcement. Our insurance, asset management, plan administrative services and other businesses provide services to employee benefit plans subject to ERISA, including services where we may act as an ERISA fiduciary. In addition to ERISA regulation of businesses providing products and services to ERISA plans, we become subject to ERISA’s prohibited transaction rules for transactions with those plans, which may affect our ability to enter transactions, or the terms on which transactions may be entered, with those plans, even in businesses unrelated to those giving rise to party in interest status.

 

31


Table of Contents

USA Patriot Act

 

The USA Patriot Act of 2001, enacted in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, contains anti-money laundering and financial transparency laws and mandates the implementation of various new regulations applicable to broker-dealers and other financial services companies, including insurance companies. The Patriot Act seeks to promote cooperation among financial institutions, regulators and law enforcement entities in identifying parties that may be involved in terrorism or money laundering. Anti-money laundering laws outside of the U.S. contain some similar provisions. The increased obligations of financial institutions to identify their customers, watch for and report suspicious transactions, respond to requests for information by regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies, and share information with other financial institutions require the implementation and maintenance of internal practices, procedures and controls.

 

Investment Products and Asset Management Operations

 

Some of the separate account, mutual fund and other pooled investment products offered by our businesses, in addition to being registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, are registered as investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the shares of certain of these entities are qualified for sale in some states and the District of Columbia. Separate account investment products are also subject to state insurance regulation as described above. We also have several subsidiaries that are registered as broker-dealers under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and are subject to federal and state regulation, including but not limited to the SEC’s Uniform Net Capital Rule, described under “—Securities Operations” below. In addition, we have several subsidiaries that are investment advisors registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Our Prudential Agents and other employees, insofar as they sell products that are securities, are subject to the Exchange Act and to examination requirements and regulation by the SEC, the NASD and state securities commissioners. Regulation also extends to various Prudential entities that employ or control those individuals.

 

Federal and state regulators are devoting substantial attention to the mutual fund and variable annuity businesses. As a result of publicity relating to widespread perceptions of industry abuses, numerous legislative and regulatory reforms have been proposed or adopted with respect to mutual fund governance, disclosure requirements concerning mutual fund share classes, commission breakpoints, revenue sharing, advisory fees, market timing, late trading, portfolio pricing, annuity products, hedge funds and other issues. It is difficult to predict at this time whether changes resulting from new laws and regulations will affect our investment product offerings or asset management operations and, if so, to what degree.

 

For a discussion of potential federal tax legislation and other federal regulation affecting our variable annuity products, see “—Insurance Operations—Federal Regulation” above.

 

Securities Operations

 

A number of our subsidiaries and Wachovia Securities, in which we have a 38% ownership interest, are registered as broker-dealers with the SEC and with some or all of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, a number of our subsidiaries are also registered as investment advisors with the SEC. Our broker-dealer affiliates are members of, and are subject to regulation by “self-regulatory organizations,” including the NASD and the NYSE. Many of these self-regulatory organizations conduct examinations of and have adopted rules governing their member broker-dealers. In addition, state securities and certain other regulators have regulatory and oversight authority over our registered broker-dealers.

 

Broker-dealers and their sales forces are subject to regulations that cover many aspects of the securities business, including sales methods and trading practices. The regulations cover the suitability of investments for individual customers, use and safekeeping of customers’ funds and securities, capital adequacy, recordkeeping, financial reporting and the conduct of directors, officers and employees.

 

The commodity futures and commodity options industry in the U.S. is subject to regulation under the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended. The CFTC is the federal agency charged with the administration of the Commodity Exchange Act and the regulations adopted under that Act. A number of our subsidiaries are registered with the CFTC as futures commission merchants, commodity pool operators or commodity trading advisors. Our futures business is also regulated in the U.S. by the National Futures Association.

 

32


Table of Contents

The SEC and other governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations, as well as state securities commissions in the U.S., have the power to conduct administrative proceedings that can result in censure, fine, the issuance of cease-and-desist orders or suspension, termination or limitation of the activities of a broker-dealer or an investment advisor or its employees.

 

As registered broker-dealers and members of various self-regulatory organizations, our U.S. registered broker-dealer subsidiaries and Wachovia Securities are subject to the SEC’s Uniform Net Capital Rule. The Uniform Net Capital Rule sets the minimum level of net capital a broker-dealer must maintain and also requires that at least a minimum part of a broker-dealer’s assets be kept in relatively liquid form. These net capital requirements are designed to measure the financial soundness and liquidity of broker-dealers. Our broker-dealers are also subject to the net capital requirements of the CFTC and the various securities and commodities exchanges of which they are members. Compliance with the net capital requirements could limit those operations that require the intensive use of capital, such as underwriting and trading activities, and may limit the ability of these subsidiaries to pay dividends to Prudential Financial.

 

Other Businesses

 

As a result of its ownership of Prudential Bank & Trust, FSB, Prudential Financial is considered to be a savings and loan holding company. Federal and state banking laws generally provide that no person may acquire control of Prudential Financial, and gain indirect control of Prudential Bank & Trust, FSB or Prudential Trust Company, without prior regulatory approval. Generally, beneficial ownership of 10% or more of the voting securities of Prudential Financial would be presumed to constitute control.

 

Our domestic banking operations are subject to federal and state regulation. Prudential provides trust services through the Prudential Trust Company, a state-chartered trust company incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and both trust directed services and investment products through Prudential Bank & Trust, FSB. Our non-U.S. banking operations are subject to banking and securities regulation in the jurisdictions in which they do business. The sale of real estate franchises by our real estate brokerage franchise operation is regulated by various state laws and the Federal Trade Commission. The federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and state real estate brokerage and unfair trade practice laws regulate payments among participants in the sale or financing of residences or the provision of settlement services such as mortgages, homeowner’s insurance and title insurance.

 

Privacy Regulation

 

Federal and state law and regulation require financial institutions to protect the security and confidentiality of health-related and customer information and to notify customers and other individuals about their policies and practices relating to their collection and disclosure of health-related and customer information and their policies relating to protecting the security and confidentiality of that information. State laws regulate collection, use and disclosure of social security numbers. Federal and state laws and regulations regulate the ability of financial institutions to make telemarketing calls and to send unsolicited e-mail messages to consumers and customers. Federal and state governments and regulatory bodies may be expected to consider additional or more detailed regulation regarding these subjects and the privacy and security of personal information. Our non-U.S. business operations are also subject to consumer and employee privacy laws and regulations, which in some cases may be different from or more rigorous than those applicable to our U.S. business operations.

 

Environmental Considerations

 

Federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations apply to our ownership and operation of real property. Inherent in owning and operating real property are the risk of hidden environmental liabilities and the costs of any required clean-up. Under the laws of certain states, contamination of a property may give rise to a lien on the property to secure recovery of the costs of clean-up, which could adversely affect our commercial mortgage lending business. In several states, this lien has priority over the lien of an existing mortgage against such property. In addition, in some states and under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, or CERCLA, we may be liable, as an “owner” or “operator,” for costs of cleaning-up releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances at a property mortgaged to us. We also

 

33


Table of Contents

risk environmental liability when we foreclose on a property mortgaged to us. Federal legislation provides for a safe harbor from CERCLA liability for secured lenders that foreclose and sell the mortgaged real estate, provided that certain requirements are met. However, there are circumstances in which actions taken could still expose us to CERCLA liability. Application of various other federal and state environmental laws could also result in the imposition of liability on us for costs associated with environmental hazards.

 

We routinely conduct environmental assessments for real estate we acquire for investment and before taking title through foreclosure to real property collateralizing mortgages that we hold. Although unexpected environmental liabilities can always arise, based on these environmental assessments and compliance with our internal procedures, we believe that any costs associated with compliance with environmental laws and regulations or any clean-up of properties would not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

 

Employees

 

As of December 31, 2004, we had 39,418 employees. We believe our relations with our employees are satisfactory.

 

On February 18, 2004, the Office of Professional Employees International Union, or OPEIU, Local 153 (AFL-CIO), filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, seeking to represent those of our Prudential Agents who formerly had been represented by the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (AFL-CIO). In April 2004, the NLRB conducted a mail ballot election, the result of which was that a majority of those who voted, voted for representation by Local 153, OPEIU. On August 20, 2004, Local 153 and Prudential Insurance reached a tentative agreement on the terms of a collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 850 Prudential Agents, the terms of which were ratified by a majority of the covered Prudential Agents voting on the matter on October 8, 2004 and which became effective on that date.

 

Available Information

 

Prudential Financial files periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Such reports, proxy statements and other information may be obtained by visiting the Public Reference Room of the SEC at 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington D.C. 20549 or by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. In addition, the SEC maintains an internet website (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, including Prudential Financial.

 

You may also access our press releases, financial information and reports filed with the SEC (for example, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to those Forms) online at www.investor.prudential.com. Copies of any documents on our website are available without charge, and reports filed with or furnished to the SEC will be available as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with or furnished to the SEC. The information found on our website is not part of this or any other report filed with or furnished to the SEC.

 

34


Table of Contents

ITEM 1A.    EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT

 

The names of the executive officers of Prudential Financial and their respective ages and positions, as of March 1, 2005, were as follows:

 

Name


   Age

  

Title


  

Other Directorships


Arthur F. Ryan

   62   

Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
and President

   Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Vivian L. Banta

   54    Vice Chairman    None

Mark B. Grier

   52    Vice Chairman    None

Rodger A. Lawson

   58    Vice Chairman    None

John R. Strangfeld, Jr.

   51    Vice Chairman    None

Robert Charles Golden

   58    Executive Vice President    None

Richard J. Carbone

   57   

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

   None

John M. Liftin

   61   

Senior Vice President and General Counsel

   None

Sharon C. Taylor

   50   

Senior Vice President, Corporate Human Resources

   None

 

Biographical information about Prudential Financial executive officers is as follows:

 

Arthur F. Ryan was elected Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Prudential Financial in December 2000, and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Financial from January 2000 to December 2000. He joined Prudential Insurance as the Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President in December 1994. Mr. Ryan was with Chase Manhattan Bank from 1972 to 1994, serving in various executive positions including President and Chief Operating Officer from 1990 to 1994 and Vice Chairman from 1985 to 1990. Mr. Ryan was elected a director of Prudential Financial in December 1999 and has been a director of Prudential Insurance since December 1994.

 

Vivian L. Banta was elected Vice Chairman of Prudential Financial in August 2002. Since January 2000, she variously served as Executive Vice President of Prudential Financial, Senior Vice President, Individual Financial Services, Executive Vice President, Individual Financial Services, Executive Vice President, U.S. Consumer Group, and Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Division of Prudential Insurance, a position she also holds at this time. Prior to joining Prudential, Ms. Banta was an independent consultant from 1998 to 1999, and served as Executive Vice President, Global Investor Services, Group Executive for Chase Manhattan Bank from 1987 to 1997.

 

Mark B. Grier was elected Vice Chairman of Prudential Financial in August 2002. He served as a director of Prudential Financial from December 1999 to January 2001, Executive Vice President from December 2000 to August 2002 and as Vice President of Prudential Financial from January 2000 to December 2000. He was elected Chief Financial Officer of Prudential Insurance in May 1995. Since May 1995 he has variously served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Governance, Executive Vice President, Financial Management, and Vice Chairman, Financial Management, the position he holds at this time. Prior to joining Prudential, Mr. Grier was an executive with Chase Manhattan Corporation.

 

Rodger A. Lawson was elected Vice Chairman of Prudential Financial in August 2002. He was Executive Vice President of Prudential Financial from February 2001 to August 2002, and previously served as Executive Vice President, International Investments and Global Marketing Communications of Prudential Insurance. He served as Executive Vice President, Marketing and Planning of Prudential Insurance from June 1996 to October 1998. Prior to joining Prudential, Mr. Lawson was the President and Chief Executive Officer of VanEck Global from April 1994 to June 1996; Managing Director and Partner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Global

 

35


Table of Contents

Private Banking and Mutual Funds, Bankers Trust Company from January 1992 to April 1994; Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Investments—Retail from May 1985 to May 1991; and President and Chief Executive Officer of Dreyfus Service Corporation from March 1982 to May 1985.

 

John R. Strangfeld, Jr. was elected Vice Chairman of Prudential Financial in August 2002. He was Executive Vice President of Prudential Financial from February 2001 to August 2002. He served as Chief Executive Officer, Prudential Investment Management of Prudential Insurance from February 2001 until April 2002. Mr. Strangfeld was also elected Chairman and CEO of Prudential Securities (now Prudential Equity Group LLC) in October 2000 and continues to serve as its Chairman. He is a member of the Board of Managers of Wachovia Securities Financial Holdings, LLC, which was formed in July 2003 as part of the merger of the retail brokerage and securities clearing business of Prudential and Wachovia. He has been with Prudential since July 1977, serving in various management positions, including the executive in charge of Prudential’s Global Asset Management Group since 1996; Senior Managing Director, The Private Asset Management Group from 1995 to 1996; and Chairman, PRICOA Capital Group (London) Europe from 1989 to 1995.

 

Robert Charles Golden was elected Executive Vice President of Prudential Financial in February 2001 and was elected Executive Vice President, Operations and Systems of Prudential Insurance in June 1997. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for Prudential Securities.

 

Richard J. Carbone was elected Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Prudential Financial in December 2000 and November 2001, respectively, and was elected Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Prudential Insurance in July 1997. Prior to that, Mr. Carbone was the Global Controller and a Managing Director of Salomon, Inc. from July 1995 to June 1997; and Controller of Bankers Trust New York Corporation and a Managing Director and Controller of Bankers Trust Company from April 1988 to March 1993; and Managing Director and Chief Administrative Officer of the Private Client Group at Bankers Trust Company from March 1993 to June 1995.

 

John M. Liftin was elected Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Prudential Financial in December 2000. He served as a director of Prudential Financial from December 1999 to January 2001 and as Vice President of Prudential Financial from January 2000 to December 2000. He was elected Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Prudential Insurance in April 1998.

 

Sharon C. Taylor was elected Senior Vice President, Corporate Human Resources for Prudential Financial in June 2002. She also serves as Senior Vice President, Corporate Human Resources for Prudential Insurance and the Chair of The Prudential Foundation. Ms. Taylor has been with Prudential since 1976, serving in various human resources management positions, including Vice President of Human Resources Communities of Practice, from 2000 to 2002; Vice President, Human Resources & Ethics Officer, Individual Financial Services, from 1998 to 2000; Vice President, Staffing and Employee Relations from 1996 to 1998; Management Internal Control Officer from 1994 to 1996; and Vice President, Human Resources and Administration from 1993 to 1994.

 

ITEM 2.    PROPERTIES

 

We own our headquarters building located at 751 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey, which comprises approximately 0.6 million square feet. Excluding our headquarters building and properties used by the International Insurance and Investments division, which are discussed below, we own 8 and lease 15 other principal properties throughout the U.S., some of which are used for home office functions. Our domestic operations also lease approximately 320 other locations throughout the U.S.

 

For our International Insurance operations, we lease 10 home offices located in Argentina, Brazil, China, Italy, Japan, The Philippines, Poland and Taiwan and own one home office in Korea. We also own approximately 180 and lease approximately 360 other properties, primarily field offices, located throughout these same countries. For our International Investments segment, we own 12 branch offices and lease approximately 100 other branch offices throughout Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore and Taiwan, as well as various countries in Europe.

 

We believe our properties are adequate and suitable for our business as currently conducted and are adequately maintained. The above properties do not include properties we own for investment only.

 

36


Table of Contents

ITEM 3.    LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

 

We are subject to legal and regulatory actions in the ordinary course of our businesses, including class action lawsuits. Our pending legal and regulatory actions include proceedings specific to us and proceedings generally applicable to business practices in the industries in which we operate. In our insurance operations, we are subject to class action lawsuits and individual lawsuits involving a variety of issues, including sales practices, underwriting practices, claims payment and procedures, additional premium charges for premiums paid on a periodic basis, denial or delay of benefits, return of premiums or excessive premium charges and breaching fiduciary duties to customers. In addition to the types of claims generally affecting our insurance operations, with respect to our former automobile and homeowners insurance businesses, we are also subject to certain individual and class action lawsuits involving a variety of issues arising out of activities prior to the sale of these businesses. In our investment-related operations, we are subject to litigation involving commercial disputes with counterparties or partners and class action lawsuits and other litigation alleging, among other things, that we made improper or inadequate disclosures in connection with the sale of assets and variable life, annuity and investment products or charged excessive or impermissible fees on these products, recommended unsuitable products to customers, mishandled customer accounts or breached fiduciary duties to customers. In our securities operations, we are subject to class action lawsuits, arbitrations and other actions arising out of our former retail securities brokerage, account management, underwriting, former investment banking and other activities, including claims of improper or inadequate disclosure regarding investments or charges, recommending investments or products that were unsuitable for tax advantaged accounts, assessing impermissible fees or charges, engaging in excessive or unauthorized trading, making improper underwriting allocations, breaching alleged duties to non-customer third parties and breaching fiduciary duties to customers. We may be a defendant in, or be contractually responsible to third parties for, class action lawsuits and individual litigation arising from our other operations, including claims for breach of contract and payment of real estate taxes on transfer of equitable interests in residential properties in our relocation businesses, or the businesses we are winding down or have divested, including claims under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, in connection with our divested residential first mortgage operations and claims related to our discontinued healthcare operations. We are also subject to litigation arising out of our general business activities, such as our investments, contracts, leases and labor and employment relationships, including claims of discrimination and harassment. In some of our pending legal and regulatory actions, parties are seeking large and/or indeterminate amounts, including punitive or exemplary damages. The following is a summary of certain pending proceedings.

 

Insurance

 

In August 2000, plaintiffs filed a purported national class action against us in the District Court of Valencia County, New Mexico, Azar, et al. v. Prudential Insurance, based upon the alleged failure to disclose adequately the increased costs associated with payment of life insurance premiums on a “modal” basis, i.e., more frequently than once a year. Similar actions have been filed in New Mexico against over a dozen other insurance companies. The complaint includes allegations that we should have disclosed to each policyholder who paid for coverage on a modal basis the dollar cost difference between the modal premium and the annual premium required for the policy, as well as the effective annual percentage rate of interest of such difference. Based on these allegations, plaintiffs assert statutory claims including violation of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, and common law claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment and fraudulent concealment. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, compensatory and punitive damages, both in unspecified amounts, restitution, treble damages, pre-judgment interest, costs and attorneys’ fees. In March 2001, the court entered an order granting partial summary judgment to plaintiffs as to liability. In January 2003, the New Mexico Court of Appeals reversed the finding of summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs and dismissed the counts in the complaint for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and breach of fiduciary duty. The case was remanded to the trial court to determine if the alleged nondisclosures were material to plaintiffs. In November 2004, the trial court issued an order holding that, as to the named plaintiffs, the non-disclosure was material and reliance had been established. Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification of a multi-state class is under consideration by the court.

 

In October 2001, four housing advocacy groups and several individuals filed an action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, National Fair Housing Alliance, Inc., et al. v. Prudential Insurance, et al. The complaint alleges, inter alia, that Prudential Insurance and Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance

 

37


Table of Contents

Company intentionally engaged in discriminatory practices to limit, restrict or deny homeowners insurance in several urban areas, including Washington, D.C., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Richmond, Virginia and Toledo, Ohio, as well as suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The complaint asserts causes of action based on alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act and describes allegedly discriminatory homeowners insurance underwriting guidelines, terms and conditions and rating territories. The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and compensatory and punitive damages in unspecified amounts. In July 2002, the District Court denied our motion to dismiss. The trial has not yet been scheduled.

 

In 2004, the Company, along with a number of other insurance companies, received formal requests for information from the New York State Attorney General’s Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Labor and various state insurance departments relating to payments to insurance intermediaries and certain other practices that may be viewed as anti-competitive. We may receive additional requests from these and other regulators and governmental authorities concerning these and related subjects. We are cooperating fully with these inquiries. These matters are the subject of litigation brought by private plaintiffs, including putative class actions and shareholder derivative actions, and the California Department of Insurance and may be the subject of additional regulatory and private actions.

 

Securities

 

In 1999, a class action lawsuit, Burns, et al. v. Prudential Securities, Inc., et al. was filed in the Marion County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas against Jeffrey Pickett (a former Prudential Securities Incorporated Financial Advisor) and Prudential Securities alleging that Pickett transferred, without authorization, his clients’ equity mutual funds into fixed income mutual funds in October 1998. The claims were based on theories of conversion, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and negligent supervision. In October 2002, the case was tried and the jury returned a verdict against Prudential Securities and Pickett for $11.7 million in compensatory damages and against Prudential Securities for $250 million in punitive damages. In July 2003, the court denied Prudential Securities’ motion to set aside or reduce the jury verdict and sustained the judgment in the amount of $269 million, including interest and attorneys fees. Prudential Securities’ appeal is pending.

 

Other Matters

 

Mutual Fund Market Timing Practices

 

Commencing in 2003, the Company received formal requests for information from regulators and law enforcement authorities relating to the purchase and sale of mutual fund shares and variable annuities. They include, among others, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers, the New Jersey Bureau of Securities, the State of New York Attorney General’s Office, the Securities Division of Massachusetts and the United States Attorney, District of Massachusetts. The matters under investigation principally concern the retail brokerage operations of the former Prudential Securities and the business of certain American Skandia entities.

 

The Securities Division of Massachusetts filed an administrative complaint in 2003 against Prudential Securities alleging that it knew or should have known about alleged deceptive market timing and late trading in mutual funds in its Boston branch, failed reasonably to supervise the conduct of the brokers in that branch and failed to implement controls designed to prevent and detect violations of Massachusetts securities law. This action remains pending. We believe that other pending investigations will likely result in proceedings and/or settlements based on allegations related to market timing similar to those asserted by the Securities Division of Massachusetts. We are engaged in ongoing discussions with all relevant parties, including the Securities Division of Massachusetts, and are fully cooperating with them. We have established a reserve for anticipated settlement costs, but there are no assurances that this reserve will prove adequate.

 

In connection with American Skandia, we believe that certain of the investigations are likely to lead to proceedings and/or settlements based on allegations concerning market timing in American Skandia products.

 

38


Table of Contents

We are engaged in ongoing discussions with the relevant regulators and are fully cooperating with them. Prudential Financial purchased the American Skandia entities in May 2003. Any regulatory settlement involving an American Skandia entity would be subject to the indemnification provisions of the acquisition agreement between Prudential Financial and Skandia Insurance Company Ltd. (publ).

 

In addition to these regulatory proceedings, in October 2004, the Company and Prudential Securities were named as defendants in several class actions brought on behalf of purchasers and holders of shares in a number of mutual fund complexes. The actions are consolidated as part of a multi-district proceeding, In re: Mutual Fund Investment Litigation, pending in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. The complaints allege that the purchasers and holders were harmed by dilution of the funds’ values and excessive fees, caused by market timing and late trading, and seek unspecified damages.

 

Other

 

In November 2003, an action was commenced in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Enron Corp. v. J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc., et al., against approximately 100 defendants, including Prudential Insurance and other Prudential entities, who invested in Enron’s commercial paper. The complaint alleges that Enron’s October 2001 prepayment of its commercial paper is a voidable preference under the bankruptcy laws, constitutes a fraudulent conveyance and that the Company received prepayment of approximately $100 million. All defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint.

 

In August 1999, a Prudential Insurance employee and several Prudential Insurance retirees filed an action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Dupree, et al., v. Prudential Insurance, et al., against Prudential Insurance and its Board of Directors in connection with a group annuity contract entered into in 1989 between the Prudential Retirement Plan and Prudential Insurance. The amended complaint alleges that the annuitization of certain retirement benefits violated ERISA and seeks injunctive and monetary relief, including the return of what are claimed to be excess investment and advisory fees paid by the Retirement Plan to Prudential. In March 2002, the court dismissed certain of the claims against the individual defendants. The non-jury trial was concluded in January 2005. The court has not yet issued its decision.

 

Discontinued Operations

 

In November 1996, plaintiffs filed a purported class action lawsuit against Prudential Insurance, the Prudential Home Mortgage Company, Inc. and several other subsidiaries in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County, Capitol Life Insurance Company v. Prudential Insurance, et al., in connection with the sale of certain subordinated mortgage securities sold by a subsidiary of Prudential Home Mortgage. In May 2000, plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint that alleges violations of the New Jersey securities statute and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, fraud, conspiracy and negligent misrepresentation, and seeks compensatory as well as treble and punitive damages. In October 2002, plaintiffs’ motion for class certification was denied. Since that time, the court has permitted nine additional investors to intervene as plaintiffs. The case is in the discovery phase.

 

In 2000, a nationwide class action, Shane v. Humana, et al., was brought on behalf of provider physicians and physician groups in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The complaint alleges that Prudential Insurance and other health care companies engaged in an industry-wide conspiracy to defraud physicians by failing to pay under provider agreements and by unlawfully coercing providers to enter into agreements with unfair and unreasonable terms. An amended complaint, naming additional plaintiffs, including three state medical associations, and an additional defendant, was filed in March 2001, and alleges claims of breach of contract, quantum meruit, unjust enrichment, violations of RICO, conspiracy to violate RICO, aiding and abetting RICO violations, and violations of state prompt pay statutes and the California unfair business practices statute. The amended complaint seeks compensatory and punitive damages in unspecified amounts, treble damages pursuant to RICO, and attorneys’ fees. In September 2002, the District Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification of a nationwide class of provider physicians. In September 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed with respect only to the federal RICO claims. The trial is scheduled for September 2005.

 

39


Table of Contents

Summary

 

Our litigation is subject to many uncertainties, and given its complexity and scope, its outcome cannot be predicted. It is possible that our results of operations or cash flow in a particular quarterly or annual period could be materially affected by an ultimate unfavorable resolution of pending litigation and regulatory matters depending, in part, upon the results of operations or cash flow for such period. Management believes, however, that the ultimate outcome of all pending litigation and regulatory matters, after consideration of applicable reserves, should not have a material adverse effect on our financial position.

 

ITEM 4.   SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS

 

No matter was submitted to a vote of security holders of Prudential Financial during the fourth quarter of 2004.

 

PART II

 

ITEM 5.   MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

 

General

 

Prudential Financial’s Common Stock was issued to eligible policyholders in Prudential Insurance’s demutualization and sold to investors in Prudential Financial’s initial public offering. The Common Stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PRU” on December 13, 2001. The following table presents the high and low closing prices for the Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange during the periods indicated and the dividends declared per share during such periods:

 

     High

   Low

   Dividends

2004:

                    

Fourth Quarter

   $ 55.09    $ 42.87    $ 0.625

Third Quarter

     48.10      44.30      —  

Second Quarter

     46.47      41.05      —  

First Quarter

     48.11      41.62      —  

2003:

                    

Fourth Quarter

   $ 42.19    $ 36.60    $ 0.500

Third Quarter

     38.06      34.00      —  

Second Quarter

     34.50      29.84      —  

First Quarter

     33.93      27.56      —  

 

On February 28, 2005, there were 2,806,114 registered holders of record for the Common Stock and 524 million shares outstanding. The closing price of the Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange on February 28, 2005, was $57.00.

 

The Class B Stock was issued to institutional investors (two subsidiaries of American International Group, Inc. and Pacific Life Corp.) in a private placement pursuant to Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 on the date of demutualization. There is no established public trading market for the Class B Stock. During the fourth quarter of 2003 and 2004, Prudential Financial paid an annual dividend of $9.625 per share of Class B Stock. On February 28, 2005, there were three holders of record for the Class B Stock and 2.0 million shares outstanding.

 

Prudential Financial’s Board of Directors currently intends to continue to declare and pay annual dividends on the Common Stock and Class B Stock. Future dividend decisions will be based on, and affected by, a number of factors including the financial performance of the Financial Services Businesses and Closed Block Business; our overall financial condition, results of operations, cash requirements and future prospects; regulatory restrictions on the payment of dividends by Prudential Financial’s subsidiaries; and such other factors as the Board of Directors may deem relevant. Dividends payable by Prudential Financial are limited to the amount that

 

40


Table of Contents

would be legally available for payment under New Jersey corporate law. For additional information on dividends and related regulatory restrictions, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources” and Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

On the date of demutualization, Prudential Financial and Prudential Financial Capital Trust I, or the Trust, a statutory business trust, co-issued 13.8 million 6.75% equity security units, or the Units. Each Unit had a stated amount of $50 and initially consisted of a purchase contract (requiring the holder to purchase shares of Prudential Financial’s Common Stock in November 2004, at a price determined by a formula described in the contract) and a redeemable capital security of the Trust with a stated liquidation amount of $50. Prudential Financial settled the purchase contracts associated with the Units in November 2004. Each purchase contract was settled for 1.47 shares of Prudential Financial’s Common Stock resulting in the issuance of 20.3 million shares of Common Stock. Prudential Financial received $690 million in proceeds from the issuance, to be used for general corporate purposes.

 

The distribution of Common Stock to eligible policyholders in the demutualization was exempt from registration under the Securities Act pursuant to Section 3(a)(10), based on the approval of the Plan of Reorganization by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.

 

See Item 12 for information about our equity compensation plans.

 

Common Stock and Class B Stock

 

The Common Stock and the Class B Stock are separate classes of common stock under New Jersey corporate law.

 

Holders of Common Stock and Class B Stock will be entitled to dividends if and when declared by Prudential Financial’s Board of Directors out of funds legally available to pay those dividends. To the extent dividends are paid on the Class B Stock, shares of Class B Stock are repurchased or the Closed Block Business has net losses, the amount legally available for dividends on the Common Stock will be reduced. In addition, payment of dividends will be subject to the following additional conditions:

 

    Common Stock will be entitled to receive dividends, if and when declared by Prudential Financial’s Board of Directors, only out of assets of the Financial Services Businesses legally available for the payment of dividends under the New Jersey Business Corporation Act as if the Financial Services Businesses were a separate New Jersey corporation; and

 

    Class B Stock will be entitled to receive dividends, if and when declared by Prudential Financial’s Board of Directors, only out of assets of the Closed Block Business legally available for the payment of dividends under the New Jersey Business Corporation Act, as if the Closed Block Business were a separate New Jersey corporation.

 

Dividends declared and paid on the Common Stock will depend upon the financial performance of the Financial Services Businesses. Dividends declared and paid on the Class B Stock will depend upon the financial performance of the Closed Block Business and, as the Closed Block matures, the holders of the Class B Stock will receive the surplus of the Closed Block Business no longer required to support the Closed Block for regulatory purposes. Dividends on the Class B Stock will be payable in an aggregate amount per year at least equal to the lesser of (1) a “Target Dividend Amount” of $19.25 million or (2) the “CB Distributable Cash Flow,” as defined below in “—Convertibility,” for such year, which is a measure of the net cash flows of the Closed Block Business. Notwithstanding this formula, as with any common stock, we will retain the flexibility to suspend dividends on the Class B Stock; however, if CB Distributable Cash Flow exists for any period and Prudential Financial chooses not to pay dividends on the Class B Stock in an aggregate amount at least equal to the lesser of the CB Distributable Cash Flow or the Target Dividend Amount for that period, then cash dividends cannot be paid on the Common Stock with respect to such period. The principal component of “CB Distributable Cash Flow” will be the amount by which Surplus and Related Assets, determined according to statutory accounting principles, exceed surplus that would be required for the Closed Block Business considered as a

 

41


Table of Contents

separate insurer; provided, however, that “CB Distributable Cash Flow” counts such excess only to the extent distributable as a dividend by Prudential Insurance under specified, but not all, provisions of New Jersey insurance law. Subject to the discretion of the Board of Directors of Prudential Financial, we currently anticipate paying dividends on the Class B Stock at the Target Dividend Amount for the foreseeable future.

 

The shares of Common Stock will vote together with the shares of Class B Stock on all matters (one share, one vote) except as otherwise required by law and except that holders of the Class B Stock will have class voting or consent rights with respect to specified matters directly affecting the Class B Stock.

 

If shares of Class B Stock are outstanding at the time of a liquidation, dissolution or winding-up of Prudential Financial, each share of Common Stock and Class B Stock will be entitled to a share of net liquidation proceeds in proportion to the respective liquidation units of such class. Each share of Common Stock will have one liquidation unit, and each share of Class B Stock will have 2.83215 liquidation units.

 

On December 18, 2001, Prudential Financial’s shareholder rights agreement became effective. Under the shareholder rights agreement, one shareholder protection right is attached to each share of Common Stock but not to any share of Class B Stock. Each right initially entitles the holder to purchase one one-thousandth of a share of a series of Prudential Financial preferred stock upon payment of the exercise price. At the time of the demutualization, the Board of Directors of Prudential Financial determined that the initial exercise price per right is $110, subject to adjustment from time to time as provided in the shareholder rights agreement. The shareholders rights agreement will expire by its terms on December 18, 2011.

 

Convertibility

 

The Common Stock is not convertible.

 

Prudential Financial may, at its option, at any time, exchange all outstanding shares of Class B Stock into such number of shares of Common Stock as have an aggregate average market value (discussed below) equal to 120% of the appraised “Fair Market Value” (discussed below) of the outstanding shares of Class B Stock.

 

In addition, if (1) Prudential Financial sells or otherwise disposes of all or substantially all of the Closed Block Business or (2) a “change of control” of Prudential Financial occurs, Prudential Financial must exchange all outstanding shares of Class B Stock into such number of shares of Common Stock as have an aggregate average market value of 120% of the appraised Fair Market Value of such shares of Class B Stock. For this purpose, “change of control” means the occurrence of any of the following events (whether or not approved by the Board of Directors of Prudential Financial): (a)(i) any person(s) (as defined) (excluding Prudential Financial and specified related entities) is or becomes the beneficial owner (as defined), directly or indirectly, of more than 50% of the total voting power of the then outstanding equity securities of Prudential Financial; or (ii) Prudential Financial merges with, or consolidates with, another person or disposes of all or substantially all of its assets to any person, other than, in the case of either clause (i) or (ii), any transaction where immediately after such transaction the persons that beneficially owned immediately prior to the transaction the then outstanding voting equity securities of Prudential Financial beneficially own more than 50% of the total voting power of the then outstanding voting securities of the surviving person; or (b) during any year or any period of two consecutive years, individuals who at the beginning of such period constituted the Board of Directors of Prudential Financial (together with any new directors whose election by such Board of Directors or whose nomination for election by the shareholders of Prudential Financial was approved by a vote of a majority of the directors of Prudential Financial then still in office who were either directors at the beginning of such period or whose election or nomination for election was previously so approved) cease for any reason, other than pursuant to (x) a proposal or request that the Board of Directors be changed as to which the holder of the Class Stock seeking the conversion has participated or assisted or is participating or assisting or (y) retirements in the ordinary course (as defined), to constitute a majority of the Board of Directors then in office.

 

Holders of Class B Stock will be permitted to convert their shares of Class B Stock into such number of shares of Common Stock as have an aggregate average market value equal to 100% of the appraised Fair Market Value of the outstanding shares of Class B Stock (1) in the holder’s sole discretion, in the year 2016 or at any

 

42


Table of Contents

time thereafter, and (2) at any time in the event that (a) the Class B Stock will no longer be treated as equity of Prudential Financial for federal income tax purposes or (b) the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance amends, alters, changes or modifies the regulation of the Closed Block, the Closed Block Business, the Class B Stock or the IHC debt in a manner that materially adversely affects the CB Distributable Cash Flow (as defined below); provided, however, that in no event may a holder of Class B Stock convert shares of Class B Stock to the extent such holder immediately upon such conversion, together with its affiliates, would be the “beneficial owner,” as defined under the Securities Exchange Act, of in excess of 9.9% of the total outstanding voting power of Prudential Financial’s voting securities. In the event a holder of shares of Class B Stock requests to convert shares pursuant to clause (2)(a) in the preceding sentence, Prudential Financial may elect, instead of effecting such conversion, to increase the Target Dividend Amount to $12.6875 per share per annum retroactively from the time of issuance of the Class B Stock.

 

“CB Distributable Cash Flow” means, for any quarterly or annual period, the sum of (i) the excess of (a) the Surplus and Related Assets over (b) the “Required Surplus” applicable to the Closed Block Business within Prudential Insurance, to the extent that Prudential Insurance is able to distribute such excess as a dividend to PHLLC under New Jersey law without giving effect, directly or indirectly, to the “earned surplus” requirement of Section 17:27A-4c.(3) of the New Jersey Insurance Holding Company Systems Law, plus (ii) any amount held by PHLLC allocated to the Closed Block Business in excess of remaining debt service payments on the IHC debt. For purposes of the foregoing, “Required Surplus” means the amount of surplus applicable to the Closed Block Business within Prudential Insurance that would be required to maintain a quotient (expressed as a percentage) of (i) the “Total Adjusted Capital” applicable to the Closed Block Business within Prudential Insurance (including any applicable dividend reserves) divided by (ii) the “Company Action Level RBC” applicable to the Closed Block Business within Prudential Insurance, equal to 100%, where “Total Adjusted Capital” and “Company Action Level RBC” are as defined in the regulations promulgated under the New Jersey Dynamic Capital and Surplus Act of 1993. These amounts are determined according to statutory accounting principles.

 

In the event of any reclassification, recapitalization or exchange of, or any tender offer or exchange offer for, the outstanding shares of Common Stock, including by merger, consolidation or other business combination, as a result of which shares of Common Stock are exchanged for or converted into another security which is both registered under the Exchange Act and publicly traded, then the Class B Stock will remain outstanding (unless exchanged by virtue of a “change of control” occurring or otherwise, or otherwise converted) and, in the event 50% or more of the outstanding shares of Common Stock are so exchanged or converted, holders of outstanding Class B Stock will be entitled to receive, in the event of any subsequent exchange or conversion, the securities into which the Common Stock has been exchanged or converted by virtue of such reclassification, recapitalization, merger, consolidation, tender offer, exchange offer or other business combination. If, in the event of any reclassification, recapitalization or exchange, or any tender or exchange offer for, the outstanding shares of Common Stock, including by merger, consolidation or other business combination, as a result of which a majority of the outstanding shares of Common Stock are converted into or exchanged or purchased for either cash or securities which are not public securities, or a combination thereof, the Class B Stock will be entitled to receive cash and/or securities of the type and in the proportion that such holders of Class B Stock would have received if an exchange or conversion of the Class B Stock had occurred immediately prior to the conversion, exchange or purchase of a majority of the outstanding shares of Common Stock and the holders of Class B Stock had participated as holders of Common Stock in such conversion, exchange or purchase. The amount of cash and/or securities payable upon such exchange or conversion will be calculated based upon the Fair Market Value of the Class B Stock as of the date on which the Common Stock was exchanged, converted or purchased and will be multiplied by 120%.

 

For purposes of all exchanges and conversions, the “average market value” of the Common Stock will be determined during a specified 20 trading day period preceding the time of the exchange or conversion. “Fair Market Value” of the Class B Stock means the fair market value of all of the outstanding shares of Class B Stock as determined by appraisal by a nationally recognized actuarial or other competent firm independent of and selected by the Board of Directors of Prudential Financial and approved by the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B Stock. Fair Market Value will be the present value of expected future cash flows to holders of the Class B Stock, reduced by any payables to the Financial Services Businesses. Future cash flows will be projected consistent with the policy, as described in the Plan of Reorganization, for the Board of Directors of Prudential Insurance to declare policyholder dividends based on actual experience in the Closed Block.

 

43


Table of Contents

Following the repayment in full of the IHC debt, these cash flows shall be the excess of statutory surplus applicable to the Closed Block Business over Required Surplus (as defined in the definition of “CB Distributable Cash Flow”) for each period that would be distributable as a dividend under New Jersey law if the Closed Block Business were a separate insurer. These cash flows will be discounted at an equity rate of return, to be estimated as a risk-free rate plus an equity risk premium. The risk-free rate will be an appropriate ten-year U.S. Treasury rate reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The equity risk premium will be eight and one quarter percent initially, declining evenly to four percent over the following 21 years and remaining constant thereafter. Fair Market Value will be determined by appraisal as of a specified date preceding the time of the exchange or conversion.

 

Any exchange or conversion of Class B Stock into Common Stock could occur at a time when either or both of the Common Stock and Class B Stock may be considered to be overvalued or undervalued. In the future, if the Class B Stock is exchanged for or converted into Common Stock, the number of shares of Common Stock then obtainable by the Class B Stockholders might constitute a higher proportion of the total shares of Common Stock then outstanding than the proportion represented by (x) the number of shares of Class B Stock initially issued divided by (y) the total number of shares of Common Stock outstanding upon completion of the demutualization. The degree of any such proportionate increase would depend principally on: the performance of the Closed Block Business over time and the valuation of the Closed Block Business at the time of exchange or conversion; whether the exchange or conversion implemented involves a premium; the number of any new shares of Common Stock we issue after the demutualization for financing, acquisition or other purposes or any repurchases of Common Stock that we may make; and the market value of our Common Stock at the time of exchange or conversion.

 

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

The following table provides information about purchases by the Company during the quarter ended December 31, 2004 of its Common Stock.

 

Period


  

Total Number of

Shares

Purchased(1)(2)


  

Average

Price Paid

per Share


  

Total Number of Shares

Purchased as Part of

Publicly Announced

Program(1)


  

Approximate Dollar

Value of Shares that

May Yet be Purchased

under the Program(3)


October 1, 2004 through October 31, 2004

   2,623,767    $ 45.98    2,620,000       

November 1, 2004 through November 30, 2004

   2,638,275    $ 48.67    2,637,000       

December 1, 2004 through December 31, 2004

   2,413,906    $ 52.98    2,411,000       
    
         
  

Total

   7,675,948    $ 49.11    7,668,000    $ —  
    
         
  


(1)   In March 2003, Prudential Financial’s Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program under which Prudential Financial was authorized to repurchase up to $1.0 billion of its outstanding Common Stock through September 2004. In February 2004, the March 2003 program was terminated, and the Board of Directors authorized a new repurchase program for up to $1.5 billion of Common Stock during the calendar year 2004. See footnote (3) below.
(2)   Includes shares of Common Stock withheld from participants for income tax withholding purposes whose shares of restricted stock and restricted stock units vested during the period. Restricted stock and restricted stock units were issued to participants pursuant to the Prudential Financial, Inc. Omnibus Incentive Plan that was adopted by the Company’s Board of Directors in March 2003.
(3)   The stock repurchase program authorized in February 2004 expired on December 31, 2004 and, therefore, the Company can no longer purchase any additional shares of Common Stock under this authorization. In November 2004, Prudential Financial’s Board of Directors authorized a new stock repurchase program under which Prudential Financial is authorized to repurchase up to $1.5 billion of its outstanding Common Stock during calendar year 2005.

 

ITEM 6.    SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

 

We derived the selected consolidated income statement data for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2004 and 2003 from our Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere herein. We derived the selected consolidated income statement data for the years ended December 31, 2001 and 2000 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2002, 2001 and 2000 from consolidated financial statements not included herein.

 

44


Table of Contents

On April 1, 2004, we acquired the retirement business of CIGNA Corporation. Results for 2004 include results of that business from the date of acquisition.

 

On May 1, 2003, we acquired Skandia U.S. Inc., which included American Skandia, Inc. Results presented below include results of American Skandia from the date of acquisition.

 

On July 1, 2003, we completed an agreement with Wachovia Corporation, or Wachovia, to combine each company’s respective retail securities brokerage and clearing operations forming a joint venture, Wachovia Securities. We have a 38% ownership interest in the joint venture, while Wachovia owns the remaining 62%. The transaction included our securities brokerage operations but did not include our equity sales, trading and research operations. As part of the transaction we retained certain assets and liabilities related to the contributed businesses, including liabilities for certain litigation and regulatory matters. We account for our 38% ownership of the joint venture under the equity method of accounting; periods prior to July 1, 2003, continue to reflect the results of our previously wholly owned securities brokerage operations on a fully consolidated basis. Accordingly, operating results for 2004 reflect earnings from the joint venture on the equity basis. Results for 2003 reflect our securities brokerage operations on a consolidated basis for the first six months of 2003 and earnings from the joint venture on the equity basis for the remaining six month period. Results for 2002 and prior years reflect our securities brokerage operations on a fully consolidated basis.

 

In April 2001, we acquired Gibraltar Life, which has adopted a November 30 fiscal year end. Consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001 includes Gibraltar Life assets and liabilities as of November 30 and fully consolidated income statement data for 2001 includes Gibraltar Life results from April 2, 2001, the date of its reorganization, through November 30, 2001. Consolidated income statement data for 2004, 2003 and 2002 includes Gibraltar Life results for the twelve months ended November 30, 2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively.

 

We have made several dispositions that materially affect the comparability of the data presented below. In the fourth quarter of 2003, we completed the sale of our property and casualty insurance companies that operated nationally in 48 states outside of New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, to Liberty Mutual Group, as well as our New Jersey property and casualty insurance companies to Palisades Group. Results for 2003 include a pre-tax loss of $491 million related to the disposition of these businesses. In the fourth quarter of 2000, we terminated the capital markets activities of Prudential Securities. This business had a pre-tax loss of $22 million in 2004, pre-tax income of $287 million in 2003, including the gain from a $332 million settlement of an arbitration award, a pre-tax loss of $36 million in 2002, a pre-tax loss of $159 million in 2001 and a pre-tax loss of $620 million in 2000. The loss from these operations in 2000 included charges of $476 million associated with our termination and wind-down of these businesses. In 2000, we sold Gibraltar Casualty Company, a commercial property and casualty insurer that we placed in wind-down status in 1985. We incurred losses of $81 million in 2003 and $79 million in 2002 under a stop-loss agreement we entered into at the time of sale. Gibraltar Casualty had no impact on results in 2001 and incurred pre-tax losses of $6 million in 2000.

 

On December 18, 2001, Prudential Insurance converted from a mutual life insurance company owned by its policyholders to a stock life insurance company and became an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial. “Demutualization costs and expenses” amounted to $588 million in 2001 and $143 million in 2000. “Demutualization costs and expenses” in 2001 include $340 million of demutualization consideration paid to former Canadian branch policyholders.

 

45


Table of Contents

You should read this selected consolidated financial information in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere herein.

 

    Year Ended December 31,

 
        2004    

    2003

    2002

    2001

        2000    

 
    (in millions, except per share and ratio information)  

Income Statement Data:

                                       

Revenues:

                                       

Premiums

  $ 12,580     $ 13,233     $ 13,053     $ 11,904     $ 9,966  

Policy charges and fee income

    2,317       2,001       1,780       2,027       1,639  

Net investment income

    9,079       8,680       8,818       9,085       9,417  

Realized investment gains (losses), net

    726       270       (1,365 )     (674 )     (265 )

Commissions and other income

    3,646       3,704       3,992       4,304       5,239  
   


 


 


 


 


Total revenues

    28,348       27,888       26,278       26,646       25,996  
   


 


 


 


 


Benefits and expenses:

                                       

Policyholders’ benefits

    12,896       13,424       13,378       12,457       10,473  

Interest credited to policyholders’ account balances

    2,334       1,830       1,846       1,804       1,751  

Dividends to policyholders

    2,485       2,602       2,644       2,722       2,724  

General and administrative expenses

    7,346       7,562       8,328       9,200       9,754  

Capital markets restructuring

    —         —         —         —         476  

Loss on disposition of property and casualty insurance operations

    —         491       —         —         —    

Demutualization costs and expenses

    —         —         —         588       143  
   


 


 


 


 


Total benefits and expenses

    25,061       25,909       26,196       26,771       25,321  
   


 


 


 


 


Income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes, extraordinary gain on acquisition and cumulative effect of accounting change

    3,287       1,979       82       (125 )     675  

Income tax expense (benefit)

    955       657       (188 )     (33 )     381  
   


 


 


 


 


Income (loss) from continuing operations before extraordinary gain on acquisition and cumulative effect of accounting change

    2,332       1,322       270       (92 )     294  

Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of taxes

    (18 )     (58 )     (76 )     (62 )     104  

Extraordinary gain on acquisition, net of taxes

    21       —         —         —         —    

Cumulative effect of accounting change, net of taxes

    (79 )     —         —         —         —    
   


 


 


 


 


Net income (loss)

  $ 2,256     $ 1,264     $ 194     $ (154 )   $ 398  
   


 


 


 


 


Basic income from continuing operations before extraordinary gain on acquisition and cumulative effect of accounting change per share—Common Stock(1)

  $ 3.52     $ 2.10     $ 1.38     $ 0.07          
   


 


 


 


       

Diluted income from continuing operations before extraordinary gain on acquisition and cumulative effect of accounting change per share—Common Stock(1)

  $ 3.45     $ 2.08     $ 1.38     $ 0.07          
   


 


 


 


       

Basic net income per share—Common Stock(1)

  $ 3.38     $ 1.99     $ 1.25     $ 0.07          
   


 


 


 


       

Diluted net income per share—Common Stock(1)

  $ 3.31     $ 1.98     $ 1.25     $ 0.07          
   


 


 


 


       

Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share—Class B Stock(1)

  $ 249.00     $ 89.50     $ (264.00 )   $ 1.50          
   


 


 


 


       

Dividends declared per share—Common Stock

  $ 0.625     $ 0.50     $ 0.40                  
   


 


 


               

Dividends declared per share—Class B Stock

  $ 9.625     $ 9.625     $ 9.625                  
   


 


 


               

Ratio of earnings to fixed charges(2)

    2.07       1.80       1.05               1.22  
   


 


 


         


    As of December 31,

 
    2004

    2003

    2002

    2001

    2000

 
    (in millions)  

Balance Sheet Data:

                                       

Total investments excluding policy loans

  $ 208,251     $ 172,889     $ 174,381     $ 157,400     $ 140,588  

Separate account assets

    115,568       106,680       70,555       77,158       82,217  

Total assets

    401,058       321,274       292,616       292,901       272,619  

Future policy benefits, policyholders’ account balances and unpaid claims and claim adjustment expenses

    179,337       146,223       140,168       133,732       104,130  

Separate account liabilities

    115,568       106,680       70,555       77,158       82,217  

Short-term debt

    4,044       4,739       3,469       5,405       11,131  

Long-term debt

    7,627       5,610       4,757       5,304       2,502  

Total liabilities

    378,714       299,982       270,596       271,758       252,011  

Guaranteed beneficial interest in Trust holding solely debentures of Parent(3)

    —         —         690       690       —    

Equity

    22,344       21,292       21,330       20,453       20,608  

 

46


Table of Contents

(1)   Earnings per share data for 2001 reflects earnings for the period from December 18, 2001, the date of demutualization, through December 31, 2001 only.
(2)   For purposes of this computation, earnings are defined as income from continuing operations before income taxes, extraordinary gain on acquisition and cumulative effect of accounting change excluding undistributed income from equity method investments, fixed charges and interest capitalized. Fixed charges are the sum of gross interest expense, interest credited to policyholders’ account balances and an estimated interest component of rent expense. Due to the Company’s loss in 2001, the ratio coverage was less than 1:1 and is therefore not presented. Additional earnings of $160 million would have been required in 2001 to achieve a ratio of 1:1.
(3)   Effective December 31, 2003, the Company adopted the revised guidance under FIN No. 46. As a result, the Trust was deconsolidated and the Prudential Financial debentures are reported as “Long-term debt.”

 

ITEM 7.   MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

You should read the following analysis of our consolidated financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the Forward-Looking Statements included below the Table of Contents, “Selected Financial Data” and the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

Overview

 

Prudential Financial has two classes of common stock outstanding. The Common Stock, which is publicly traded (NYSE:PRU), reflects the performance of the Financial Services Businesses, while the Class B Stock, which was issued through a private placement and does not trade on any exchange, reflects the performance of the Closed Block Business. The Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business are discussed below.

 

Financial Services Businesses

 

Our Financial Services Businesses consist of three operating divisions, which together encompass seven segments, and our Corporate and Other operations. The Insurance division consists of our Individual Life and Annuities and Group Insurance segments. The Investment division consists of our Asset Management, Financial Advisory, and Retirement segments. In the first quarter of 2004, we combined the former Other Asset Management segment with the former Investment Management segment to form the Asset Management segment. The International Insurance and Investments division consists of our International Insurance and International Investments segments. Our Corporate and Other operations include our real estate and relocation services business, as well as corporate items and initiatives that are not allocated to business segments. Corporate and Other operations also include businesses that have been or will be divested and businesses that we have placed in wind-down status.

 

We attribute financing costs to each segment based on the amount of financing used by each segment, excluding financing costs associated with corporate debt. The net investment income of each segment includes earnings on the amount of equity that management believes is necessary to support the risks of that segment.

 

We seek growth internally and through acquisitions, joint ventures or other forms of business combinations or investments. Our principal acquisition focus is in our current business lines, both domestic and international.

 

Closed Block Business

 

In connection with the demutualization, we ceased offering domestic participating products. The liabilities for our domestic in force participating products were segregated, together with assets, in a regulatory mechanism referred to as the “Closed Block.” The Closed Block is designed generally to provide for the reasonable expectations for future policy dividends after demutualization of holders of participating individual life insurance policies and annuities included in