PPRUPrudential Financial, Inc.

Prudential Financial insures lives and manages retirement assets — a business of very long liabilities.

The obligation to the client arises today while payment falls due decades later. Throughout that time premiums are invested, and bond portfolio income is a substantial part of profit. Interest rates therefore matter more to a life insurer than to most industries.

A separate line is assuming corporations' pension obligations: the company receives the assets and undertakes to pay employees' pensions instead of the employer. That market is growing but requires accurate longevity assumptions. International operations, chiefly in Japan, add currency risk. Prudential pays a high dividend. Reserve adequacy assumptions are the single most consequential judgement in its accounts.