Prudential signs investment bond deal with Santander

Prudential has signed a deal with Santander for its investment bonds to be sold by the bank's 1,000-strong sales force in its branches.

The deal follows Santander's deal with Aviva to distribute life protection products. Santander has dropped Legal & General and Royal London in favour of the Prudential and Aviva deals.

Santander will begin offering the Prudential flexible investment plan to customers from 2011.

Prudential said its deal with the Spanish bank represented a new distribution channel alongside IFAs.

'We are investing to build multi-channel distribution while demonstrating our commitment to develop market-leading products that help people as they save for the long term,’ said Barry O’Dwyer, managing director of retail life and pensions at Prudential UK.

‘Winning this deal demonstrates the appetite and ambition that Prudential has for growing our UK business in areas where we have a strong competitive advantage,’ he added. 

Santander said it had revised its product panel while working on the integration of Alliance & Leicester, which had its own relationships with product providers. Santander signed a general insurance deal with Aviva on 20 August and also has its own structured product and fund range.