With-profit policy pay outs recover, but returns unlikely to be sustained this year

Pay outs for with-profit policies are showing further signs of improvement since the TMT bubble burst in March 2000, with Prudential International just announcing an increase in policy values and Norwich Union improving bonus rates. Policy values for the International Prudence Bond rose by 12.9% for the sterling-denominated product, 6.7% for its dollar version and 10.3% for the euro. Martin Brookes, director of portfolio management at Prudential International, said: "Its weighting to equities helped with the performance and have delivered the real rate of returns. "Presently, the por...