30-Oct-2025
Prudentia l Financial, Inc. (PRU)
Q3 2025 Earnings Call
CORPORATE PARTICIPANTSRobert McLaughlin
Head-Investor Relations, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Andrew F. Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer & Director, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Yanela del Carmen Frias
Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President, Prudential Financial, Inc.
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OTHER PARTICIPANTSWilma Burdis
Analyst, Raymond James & Associates, Inc.
Suneet Kamath
Analyst, Jefferies LLC
Thomas Gallagher
Analyst, Evercore ISI
Jimmy S. Bhullar
Analyst, JPMorgan Securities LLC
John Barnidge
Analyst, Piper Sandler & Co.
Jack Matten
Analyst, BMO Capital Markets Corp.
Alex Scott
Analyst, Barclays Capital, Inc.
Ryan Krueger
Analyst, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.
Cave Montazeri
Analyst, Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.
Elyse Greenspan
Analyst, Wells Fargo Securities LLC
Tracy Benguigui
Analyst, Wolfe Research LLC
Wes Carmichael
Analyst, Autonomous Research US LP
James F. Koehne
Analyst, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC
MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION SECTION Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. And welcome to Prudential's Quarterly Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode. Later, we'll conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.I will now turn the call over to Mr. Bob McLaughlin. Please go ahead.
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Robert McLaughlin
Head-Investor Relations, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. Representing Prudential on today's call are Andy Sullivan, CEO; and Yanela Frias, CFO. We will start with comments by Andy and Yanela, and then we will address your questions.
Today's discussion may include forward-looking statements. It is possible that actual results may differ materially from the predictions we make today. In addition, our presentation includes references to non-GAAP measures for a reconciliation of such measures to the comparable GAAP measures and a discussion of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward looking statements, please see the slides titled Forward-Looking Statements and Non-GAAP Measures in the appendix to today's presentation, which can be found on our website at investor.prudential.com.
And now, I'll turn it over to Andy.
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Andrew F. Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer & Director, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the call. We had a strong third quarter. Our pre-tax adjusted operating income was $1.9 billion, or $4.26 per share, a record high, up 28% from the prior year quarter, reflecting earnings growth in every business. And our year-to-date adjusted operating return on equity was over 15%. These results reflect higher spread income and more favorable underwriting experience across our global retirement and insurance businesses, as well as higher fee income in PGIM. Current quarter results benefited from alternative investment income that was above our expectations as well as other favorable one-time items. Higher alternative investment income was driven by stronger private equity and hedge fund returns, partially offset by lower real estate returns.
Our third quarter performance reflects sustained momentum across our businesses. Let me highlight a few examples. PGIM remains focused on delivering strong investment performance and strengthening core capabilities, while continuing to invest in the business to drive future growth. This quarter, we achieved positive net inflows across both third-party and affiliated channels. In Institutional Retirement, we closed a jumbo pension risk transfer transaction, reinforcing our market leadership and complementing the robust longevity risk transfer activity so far this year.
Our Individual Retirement, Individual Life and Group Insurance businesses are benefiting from our differentiated distribution and the actions we've taken to broaden our product portfolios and diversify our market segments.
Individual Retirement delivered over $3 billion in sales for the seventh consecutive quarter. In Individual Life and Group Insurance, we delivered double-digit year-to-date sales growth.
Turning to our international insurance businesses. In Japan, where our business has been traditionally focused on protection products, we continue to expand our retirement and saving solutions, leaning into the changing nature of this marketplace. And in Brazil, we set a new sales record in the Life Planner channel. In addition, we continue to expand our third-party distribution network and deepen our strategic partnerships.
While business performance was strong for the quarter overall, let me bring one area of pressure to your attention. Jennison, our active equity manager, continued to experience outflows, consistent with broader industry trends. These outflows are dampening our organic growth and earnings momentum in PGIM. We are encouraged by the third quarter results and remain committed to delivering stronger and more consistent earnings growth that creates long-term value for our shareholders.
Moving to slide 3. I've been clear on my three priorities as CEO. First, we are evolving our strategy to focus on opportunities that will deliver the most profitable growth over time and are allocating our capital accordingly.
Specifically, we're looking to focus on areas with large and growing addressable markets in which we have highly differentiated capabilities and can earn attractive returns. Accordingly, in the third quarter, we completed the sale of our PGIM Taiwan business to focus resources on higher growth opportunities.
Second, we are determined to execute with more consistency and discipline. We are quickly evolving to a unified asset manager model in PGIM, and have taken actions to deliver run rate savings that will drive margin expansion in 2026. Client response to our new organizational structure, which includes a centralized distribution capability for institutional investors, has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, we now expect to double the percentage of clients engaging with two or more of our asset management businesses, which will drive additional margin growth over time.
The sales momentum in our global retirement businesses underscores how we're meeting evolving customer needs around the world. In US Retirement Strategies, year-to-date sales of over $30 billion demonstrate our leadership in the growing retirement market and contributed our highest earnings in the last five quarters.
Additionally, over the past three years in Japan, we've launched seven new products, reflecting our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our customers through a comprehensive suite of protection and retirement solutions. As a result, sales in Japan have increased by about 35% over this period, with yen-denominated sales increasing by over 50%.
And third, we are enhancing our culture with a focus on speed and accountability. As an example, we accelerated our succession plan in Japan, appointing Brad Hearn as CEO, reporting directly to me. This move ensures we have the right leadership in place to drive our growth strategy in Japan.
Brad brings a strong track record of driving results and scaling distribution networks from his time leading our domestic Prudential Advisors business. His experience is directly relevant given the shifting nature of Japan's market towards retirement. He will continue working closely with Caroline, Jacques and the entire leadership team to share best practices and collaborate across businesses, ultimately helping us better serve customers and capture opportunities in this rapidly evolving market. We extend our thanks to Hamada-san for his 33 years of service in Japan.
Before I turn it over to Yanela, I want to emphasize that across the enterprise, we're taking clear and decisive action to address these priorities. I look forward to sharing more in the quarters ahead as we continue to build on our momentum.
With that, I'll hand it over to Yanela.
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Yanela del Carmen Frias
Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Thank you, Andy. I will provide an overview of the performance for our PGIM, U.S. and International Businesses. I will begin on slide 4 with the quarterly operating results from our businesses compared to the year ago quarter.
PGIM delivered higher asset management fees, driven by market appreciation, positive net flows, and strong investment performance; higher other related revenues from strong Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac originations and gains on seed and co-investment. Third quarter results also included $40 million in reorganization charges from integrating PGIM's multi-manager model, partially offset by a $25 million gain from the sale of our Taiwan business.
Results of our U.S. Businesses reflected higher net investment spread income in Retirement Strategies, including the benefit from stronger alternative investment income, coupled with more favorable underwriting results from Individual Life and Group Insurance. This was partially offset by lower fee income resulting from the runoff of our legacy variable annuity block and higher expenses to support business growth.
In our International Businesses, we also experienced higher net investment spread results, including the benefit from stronger alternative investment income and more favorable underwriting, partially offset by higher expenses to support business growth.
Turning to slide 5. PGIM has diversified capabilities in both public and private asset classes across fixed income equities and alternatives. PGIM's long-term investment performance remains strong, with over 70% of assets under management outperforming their benchmarks over the 5- and 10-year periods. In addition, the three-year track record, which is an important metric for the retail channel, has 80% of assets outperforming benchmarks. PGIM's assets under management of $1.5 trillion increased 5% from the prior year quarter, driven by market appreciation, positive net flows and strong investment performance.
Total net inflows in the quarter of $2.4 billion included affiliated net inflows of $1.8 billion and third-party net inflows of $600 million. Third-party institutional and retail inflows were both $300 million, mainly driven by fixed income inflows, partially offset by Jennison equity outflows, as previously noted.
Before I move on from PGIM, I want to expand on Andy's commentary regarding the rapid progress we have made reorganizing, including early financial impacts. The actions taken thus far will drive operating efficiencies and create reinvestment capacity, enabling us to continue expanding capabilities, enhancing client experience, and strengthening our competitive position to support future growth. We expect to realize approximately $100 million in annual run rate savings by the end of 2026, and plan to reinvest about a third of these savings to bolster sales and distribution. Compared to 2025, we now anticipate over 200 basis points of margin expansion in 2026 from these actions and are well-positioned to reach our 25% to 30% margin target.
Turning to slide 6. Our U.S. Businesses produce diversified sources of earnings from fees, net investment spread, and underwriting income, and benefit from our complementary mix of longevity and mortality businesses.
Retirement Strategies continued to have strong momentum, generating $10 billion of sales in the third quarter across its Institutional and Individual lines of business. Institutional Retirement sales of over $6 billion included a
$2.3 billion jumbo pension risk transfer, and was complemented by $1.5 billion of longevity risk transfer transactions. Individual Retirement posted over $3 billion in sales, driven by continued momentum in fixed annuities as well as solid sales of registered index-linked annuities, reflecting the actions we have taken to broaden our product portfolio.
Group Insurance sales totaled almost $80 million in the third quarter, with the year-to-date sales of $555 million, up 14% from a year ago, driven by growth in both Group Life and Disability. We are executing our strategy of both product and market segment diversification, while leveraging technology to increase operating efficiency and enhance customer experience. The benefits ratio of approximately 83% remains at the low end of our target range, reflecting favorable life underwriting results and less favorable disability experience, driven by an uptick in severity and lower claim resolutions, which can vary quarter-to-quarter.
In Individual Life, sales of $253 million in the third quarter were up 20% from the prior-year quarter. This growth was driven by higher accumulation-focused variable life, including record sales in our differentiated FlexGuard Life product suite.
Turning to slide 7. Our International Businesses include our Japanese life insurance companies, where we have a differentiated multi-channel distribution model as well as other businesses aimed at expanding our presence in targeted, high-growth emerging markets. Sales in our International Businesses were down 6% compared to the prior-year quarter. This was primarily due to strong US dollar-denominated single-pay sales in Japan that benefited from the yen appreciating sharply in the prior-year quarter. Year-to-date, International sales remain solid and are up 4% versus prior year, driven by growth in both Japan and Brazil.
As we previously stated, while surrender activity in Japan continued to show signs of stabilization, it remains a near-term headwind that will partially offset new business growth. We also anticipate approximately $30 million of higher expenses in the fourth quarter, primarily due to timing, consistent with what we've observed in prior years.
Turning to slide 8. Our capital position and strong regulatory capital ratios continue to support our AA financial strength and our ability to grow our market-leading businesses. Our cash and liquid assets were $3.9 billion, which is above our minimum liquidity target of $3 billion, and we have substantial off-balance sheet resources.
Also of note, our board approved an economic solvency ratio operating target of 150% as part of our annual capital planning process. Prudential of Japan and Gibraltar Life remain well above this level. As we look ahead, we are well-positioned across our businesses to be a global leader in expanding access to investing, insurance and retirement security.
And with that, we're happy to take your questions.
QUESTION AND ANSWER SECTION Operator: Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question today is coming from Wilma Burdis from Raymond James. Your line is now live......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Q
Wilma Burdis
Analyst, Raymond James & Associates, Inc.
Hey. Good morning. Just first question on the PRTs. We saw you had a large jumbo pension risk transfer this
quarter, which has been a slow market this year. Maybe just give a little bit of commentary on that. And then also the longevity market in the UK, we've seen a couple of entrants there, so just if you can give us an update on what you're seeing. Thanks.
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A
Andrew F. Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer & Director, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Sure. Good morning, Wilma. So, we still believe that the pension risk transfer market will be softer in 2025 versus 2024, but we've seen an uptick in the pipeline for the second half of the year is proving to be more robust than what we saw earlier. Remember that, especially in the PRT market, it's an episodic market, particularly in the jumbo space. That said, this is going to be a big market for years to come, with $3 trillion in untransacted liabilities, funding level sitting at 105%. We're very well-positioned to win and to remain a leader, given the strength of our brand, our underwriting, our asset management and service. So, we're happy to see that the market's strengthening here in the back half of the year.
When it comes to the LRT market, this is a very good opportunity as well. Globally, pension plans are even more well-funded than they are here in the US. We focus on two core markets, the UK and Netherlands. In the UK, we're seeing about $50 billion to $55 billion of pension risk transfers per year, with about 80% of that volume seeking longevity reinsurance. In the Netherlands, there's about $330 billion in defined benefit pension money that's, given the reform, looking to transition to defined contribution. Much of that will seek pension risk transfer and reinsurance.
Similar story to PRT. We're a leader in the space. We did two deals this quarter for $1.5 billion. That puts our year-to-date sales over $11 billion. So, this is also just a very good market with healthy returns and plenty of room to grow. So, we like the dynamics that we're seeing in both of the spaces.
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Q
Wilma Burdis
Analyst, Raymond James & Associates, Inc.
Sounds great. And then, PGIM flows have been improving. Could you just talk a little bit more about the drivers? And do you think this is an inflection point? Or what are you kind of seeing? Do you think this is an improvement that's going to continue? Thanks.
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A
Andrew F. Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer & Director, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Yeah, certainly. And we've discussed this before. As it comes to flows, we assess success by looking at total
flows, both affiliated and third-party, and we look at it over longer time frames. So, if you look at it from that lens, over the last 12 months, we did over $20 billion in total inflows. This quarter, we did $2.4 billion in total inflows. And in the third-party in particular, we were positive and split evenly between retail and institutional.
What we saw this quarter was very strong inflows across public fixed income, privates and alternatives. That was offset by Jennison equity outflows. This is systemic in the industry, and we're not immune, given what's happened with the active to passive pressure. That said, active equity plays a very important role in our clients' portfolio and is important in the mix.
As we look forward, as far as an outlook perspective, given the consistent strength we've been showing in institutional, we're optimistic. We're more cautious on the retail side, as that is more volatile and clients tend to react quicker to changes in the environment. And we are working to lessen and overcome those equity outflows.
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Q
Wilma Burdis
Analyst, Raymond James & Associates, Inc.
Thank you.
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Operator: Thank you. Next question today is coming from Suneet Kamath from Jefferies. Your line is now live......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Q
Suneet Kamath
Analyst, Jefferies LLC
Great. Thanks. Good morning. I guess, Yanela, in the past, you've talked about this 3- to 4-point drag on EPS growth from the legacy VA and the surrenders. Can you maybe just give us some color on how you expect that to play out over the next few years? And then, somewhat relatedly, you've been putting on all this new business growth, but is there a lag between when you write this business and when it actually shows up in the EPS results?
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A
Yanela del Carmen Frias
Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Yeah. Hi, Suneet. Yeah. So, let me start. Recall, when we provided the intermediate target of 5% to 8%, I did speak about these near-term headwinds being incorporated in the target, and therefore, the growth not being linear. As these headwinds dissipate, we will see the earnings power of the new annuity sales and the Japan
business continue to emerge. Specific to the two items, with regards to the VA runoff, we expect to continue to see the $3 billion to $4 billion quarterly runoff, which, as I said, has about a $10 million to $15 million AOI impact per quarter compounding, hence the $100 million to $150 million that we've talked about before. As that block continues to run off and the account values of the new products grow, we will have a crossover point and the earnings headwind will be reduced.
With regards to the higher-than-expected surrenders in Japan, we do continue to see stabilization. Given the stabilization, as we look forward beyond 2025, we would expect a more moderate impact of surrenders. With regards to the second point of your question, I would say we are seeing the benefit in EPS when we look at the core earnings growth in both Individual and Institutional Retirement this quarter. And as I said, over time, as the headwinds dissipate, that earnings growth will continue to grow.
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Q
Suneet Kamath
Analyst, Jefferies LLC
Got it. And then just shifting gears, I wanted to ask about the private credit asset class, just given some of the
headlines that we've seen over the past couple of weeks. Given your strength in fixed income asset management, in general, I figured you'd have a good read on what you're seeing in the market and maybe more specifically what you're seeing at PRU. Thanks.
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A
Yanela del Carmen Frias
Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Yeah. So, let me talk about the general account for sure. Obviously, we're monitoring this very closely, as we do with all markets. With regards to private credit and our portfolio, we've been in the private credit space for decades. Our private credit portfolio is largely private placements with strong covenants and other downside protections. And this portfolio has consistently performed better than equally rated publics during economic downturns, and we've seen this consistently.
Approximately 90% of our corporate private credit securities are investment grade. Roughly half of the below-investment-grade private placements are in the BB category and are very well underwritten. And lastly, our growth in private credit has been modest. So, we've been doing this a long time and we are very comfortable with the portfolio.
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Q
Suneet Kamath
Analyst, Jefferies LLC
Okay. Thank you.
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Operator: Thank you. Next question is coming from Tom Gallagher from Evercore ISI. Your line is now live......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Q
Thomas Gallagher
Analyst, Evercore ISI
Good morning. A couple of questions about Japan. The 150% ESR target, can you guys kind of get into why you think that's the appropriate level? I think there's some confusion around what peer targets are, how they're higher than PRU's, and generally the domestic insurers in Japan are running at around 200% plus. And why 150% is like a fine number for you and is that something you've gotten blessed by the rating agencies and regulators? Thanks.
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A
Yanela del Carmen Frias
Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Yeah, Tom. Let me explain what the 150% ESR target is and what it isn't, because I agree with you, there may be some confusion. In terms of what it is, it is the level that we would hold after a market stress occurs. So, this is the level we would not want to go below. And this type of stress includes shock to markets, rates, and credit. This is how we set our targets across all our legal entities. And as you've heard me say before, we have capital resources to manage these stresses as well as to manage more severe stresses, including our contingent capital sources. So that's what it is.
In terms of what it isn't, it is not what we would aspire to hold in normal times. So in normal times, we would hold higher levels, as you saw at the March 31 date, where our ESR level was between 180% and 200%. So, we plan to hold a level of capital above our target to provide a cushion that can withstand a market stress, and that is very consistent with how we manage our other businesses. And further, and to some of your questions, these ratios are a result of considerable thought, considerable modeling outcomes, and does include dialogue with key constituents, including the rating agencies.
As far as regulators, they're more focused on the threshold level for them, which is 100%. And relative to peers, different companies do have different business mix, and we believe that is a big driver of the difference in the levels. So, I would just close by saying that our operations in Japan remain well-capitalized. Our June results
were well above our 150% target, just like our March 31 results were, as we discussed last quarter. And our ESR is not a binding constraint when it comes to cash flows from Japan.
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Q
Thomas Gallagher
Analyst, Evercore ISI
That's all helpful. I appreciate it. Just my follow up is, so you had the recent abrupt departure of your CEO in
Japan. I guess, my perception is it's somewhat related to some regulatory issues that have occurred in the market that have impacted Prudential of Japan. Can you elaborate what's happening there? And I just want to make sure you don't think there's going to be any impacts to sales revenues when we think about things going forward in that business. Thanks.
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A
Andrew F. Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer & Director, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Yeah. Good morning, Tom. So, succession planning is something that we take really seriously here at PRU and do very well. So, this change from Hamada-san to Brad was planned. So when you use the words abrupt departure, this was a planned succession change. We did accelerate it. And Hamada-san stepped down, given some operational and compliance considerations, as you mentioned. Hamada-san felt, and I felt as well, it was a good time to give Brad Hearn what I would call the driver's seat. I want to - as I did in my opening remarks, to thank Hamada-san for all he's done for the company. But Japan's in great hands.
Brad Hearn is a 30-plus-year veteran of the industry. Brad oversaw our Prudential Advisors capability here in the US. He was the architect and key driver of the strategic relationship with LPL. He saw the US market go from independent insurance agent over time to financial planners, which is a very similar trend to which we're beginning to see in Japan. So, he is the right leader to lead forward, capitalizing on this changing nature of the market.
As far as, like, what this might mean from a go-forward perspective. From a revenue perspective looking forward, I'd just say, keep in mind two things. One, the market is changing. It is rotating towards retirement and savings.
And then, recognizing our results, you're still seeing the surrender headwinds. We're pleased with sales year-to-date in Japan. They're up 4%. And we've seen our new product introductions are really taking hold. About 20% of our sales are from products that we've introduced in the last 24 months. And a majority of the sales are from retirement and savings.
So, this was a plan change that we accelerated. If you look at the - Brad is the leader, the breadth of our product portfolio, the depths of our multichannel distribution, we know that all of that will help us overcome these headwinds over time and will help our growth.
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Q
Thomas Gallagher
Analyst, Evercore ISI
All right. Thanks, Andy.
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Operator: Thank you. Next question today is coming from Jimmy Bhullar from JPMorgan. Your line is now live......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Q
Jimmy S. Bhullar
Analyst, JPMorgan Securities LLC
Hey. Good morning. I had a couple of questions. First, if you could just talk about what you're seeing in terms of claims trends and price competition in the disability market. And then I had one on another product line.
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Prudential Financial Inc. published this content on October 30, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 30, 2025 at 23:07 UTC.

















