Prudential Retirement, Annuities Businesses Win DALBAR’s 2009 Service Awards

NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Prudential Retirement and Annuities service organizations were recognized for the exceptional service used to meet customer needs during the recent economic crisis by one of the nation’s leading independent market-research and consulting firms. Prudential Annuities and Prudential Retirement are business units of Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU).

The two Prudential business units each received the top 2009 DALBAR Service Award from the market research and consulting firm DALBAR Inc. The awarding organization noted that this year’s winners emerged from an increasingly competitive field and “…represent the service leaders within the financial service industry.”

“We’re pleased that we performed so well under such extreme market conditions,” Tammi Wortham, vice president of Prudential Retirement’s Retirement Services organization, said. “But what really matters is retirement plan participants were really struggling with the way the economy was going and we were able to help put the crisis in perspective for them. We believe this award is a reflection of that effort.”

The award, which pays tribute to outstanding service in the financial-services industry, is reserved for only those firms “committed to delivering the highest tier of service to their customers.”

This marks the first year Prudential Retirement’s Participant Service Center received the award. Prudential Annuities has earned a DALBAR Service Award nine times overall, including recognition for four consecutive years, this is the first time it achieved the number-one ranking.

For Prudential Annuities, the milestone underscores the company’s commitment to service quality. Seventeen companies competed for the top honor in 2009.

“This ranking is a direct result of hard work and focused improvements in many of the business’ processes,” said Steven Marenakos, vice president, Operations and Systems for Prudential Annuities. “Hitting this milestone during a time that the market had put our service centers under extraordinary pressure is a testament to our employees.”

Kathleen Whalen, managing director at DALBAR credited Prudential with recognizing how critical it is to serve both the financial and human needs of employees and individual investors. “Prudential has risen to the occasion and demonstrated superiority in meeting both needs, as evidenced by these two DALBAR Service Awards for ‘service excellence’ in 2009,” Whalen said.

DALBAR monitors calls each month in company service centers, grading businesses in four categories: accommodation, attitude, expertise and call interrupts, or dead air. Prudential’s Retirement Service Center exceeded the benchmark in all four categories for the months of July through November, while the Annuities Service Organization surpassed the target each month in 2009.

DALBAR provides evaluation services to advisors, investment firms, banks, insurance companies, broker/dealers and retirement plans. Evaluations include auditing and validation against quality standards as well as public recognition and awards for achievement.

Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private, and non-profit organizations. Services include state-of-the-art record keeping, administrative services, investment management, comprehensive employee investment education and communications, and trustee services. With over 85 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement helps meet the needs of nearly 3.7 million participants and annuitants. Prudential Retirement has $171.9 billion in retirement account values as of September 30, 2009.

Annuities are issued by The Prudential Insurance Company of America, or Pruco Life Insurance Company (in New York, by Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey), Newark, NJ, or by Prudential Annuities Life Assurance Corporation, Shelton, CT. All are distributed by Prudential Annuities Distributors, Inc., Shelton, CT. All are Prudential Financial companies and each is solely responsible for its own financial condition and contractual obligations. Prudential Annuities is a business of Prudential Financial, Inc.

Institutions pay DALBAR a fee to evaluate client performance. DALBAR ratings are not representative of any one client’s experience and are not indicative or future performance.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $641 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2009, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. In the U.S., the company’s Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.

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Prudential Financial, Inc.
Josh Stoffregen, 973-802-3996
Cell: 973-204-2540
[email protected]
or
Alicia Alston, 973-802-4446
Cell: 201-303-1172
[email protected]

Source: Prudential Financial, Inc.