Group information

Prudential has been in business for more than 160 years and looks after the financial interests of more than seven million customers in the UK.

PRUDENCE has been a figurehead for Prudential since 1848, representing cautious but wise behaviour.

One of the four cardinal virtues - Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance - she has, since the Greco-Roman period, been personified holding a serpent to represent wisdom, a mirror symbolizing self-revelation and an arrow for purpose of direction.

Prudence may also, like Janus, have two faces looking in opposite directions. A statue in the Prudential boardroom show her with an old man's face at the back of her head.

Prudence projected reliability and encouraged ideas of thrift and prudent savings amongst policyholders. The image was used on prospectuses, calendars and policies until the 1920s, when Prudential began to use more customer-focused images to advertise its increasing range of products.

Prudential Corporation was formed in 1978 and its divisions adopted their own logos. In 1986 an updated image of Prudence, still bearing her trademark symbols, was created to form a unifying image.

For more details on financial products, services and fund management offered to millions of customers worldwide please go to the Prudential plc website.