PRUDENTIAL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SERVICES LLC history

In 1989, a difficult year for Prudential, Bache lost $48 million.

In November 1990, Prudential-Bache announced that it was cutting back on its investment banking operation by about two-thirds, having made the decision to reorganize the firm to focus on its strengths in the retail brokerage business.

In response to the negative publicity, Prudential retreated behind a shield of secrecy, but with probes into the limited partnerships by state securities regulators expanding, the company accepted various settlements, including public censure in 1992.

In 1993 profits reached nearly $800 million.

Prudential Corporation Asia, based in Hong Kong, was formed in 1994, to develop and lead the insurance and asset management operations across Asia.

The investigation, concluded in 1996, and involving regulators from 45 states, assessed Prudential a $35 million fine and set up a restitution plan for 10.7 million policyholders.

The settlement, approved by a New Jersey district court judge in 1997, led to an eventual payment in excess of $2 billion.

In 1998, Ryan went before New Jersey's insurance commissioner to lobby for passage of a law that would allow a mutual insurance company to sell shares to the public.

With more than 50 000 employees in more than 20 countries, Prudential Financial is considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world, according to Forbes.

Prudential becomes a public company on December 13, the first NY Stock Exchange IPO after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.

In 2002, it acquired a 50 percent stake in Oppenheim Funds Trust GmbH and Oppenheim Investment Management International.

The company stood as the third-largest provider of adviser-sold variable annuity products in the United States upon completion of the purchase. It also pledged to cut nearly $600 million in expenses and achieve 12 percent return on equity (ROE)--a measure used to analyze operating performance--by 2005.

The company's assets in June 2006 were $568 billion.

As a result of Prudential's strong capital position, the company does not seek funds from the Troubled Asset Relief (TARP) in the aftermath of the 2007 financial crisis.