UK’s Prudential Fined $45 Million for Hiding AIA Takeover Plans

Prudential, Britain’s largest insurer, has been fined £30 million ($45.4 million) for failing to tell the UK financial regulator about its attempted takeover of Asian rival AIA three years ago.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said on Wednesday the size and scale of the deal would have transformed the company’s financial position, strategy and risk profile and that a planned £14.5 billion [$21.94 billion] cash call would have been the biggest ever in the UK.

“Prudential failed to deal with the FSA in an open and cooperative manner when it was seeking to acquire AIA in early 2010, because it did not inform the FSA of the proposed acquisition until after it had been leaked to the media on 27 February 2010,” the FSA said.