Prudential's growth story in international insurance markets is one of our proudest achievements. The story began in 1988, with the launch of our first overseas life insurance operation in Japan. Today, Prudential of Japan is one of the country's fastest-growing life insurance companies, and it serves as a model for our units in Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Poland, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan. In overseas markets, which are often underserved, Prudential has distinguished itself through an innovative, needs-based selling model. Using well-educated and highly trained career agents called Life Planners, we serve affluent clients based on a thorough analysis of their financial needs. This approach has enabled us to achieve some of the highest ratings for customer satisfaction in the markets we serve, as well as high rates of productivity and policy persistency. In April of 2001, we buoyed our position in Japan with the acquisition of Kyoei Life Insurance Co. Ltd., now called Gibraltar Life Insurance Company, Ltd., which was the 11th-largest insurer in Japan in terms of assets. Gibraltar adds distribution scale and more middle-market focus to our Japanese operations. The mutual fund is widely credited as an American export. But while it may have been perfected in the U.S., the idea of pooling money for the purpose of investing was actually born in Europe. And today, mutual funds and similar investments are extremely popular in countries around the world. Worldwide, Prudential helps thousands of investors grow their wealth through mutual fund-style products. As in the U.S., we offer clients an array of proprietary and non-proprietary choices. In Europe, Asia and Latin America, investors seeking to capitalize on Prudential's global asset management expertise can access a wide range of Prudential-managed funds. Complementing our actively managed funds is one of today's largest index fund families overseas, which enables clients to diversify among many markets, asset classes and currencies throughout the world. And Prudential also brings clients a wide range of products from third-party asset managers, each carefully selected through rigorous research and evaluation. To help our clients choose a portfolio of funds that meets their needs, Prudential offers a variety of advisory services, from asset allocation programs to private banking.

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