Sales at Prudential rose 15 per cent over the last nine months, the insurer revealed today.

The insurance giant also confirmed it was looking at taking on some of AIG’s Asian assets – following speculation over the weekend.

“We are of course monitoring closely AIG’s disposal programme and considering what, if any, opportunities may arise that would create additional value for our shareholders,” said Prudential chief executive Mark Tucker.

He added Asian markets have suffered in the short term in the wake of the global financial turmoil and the unique circumstances surrounding AIG, but “Asia is the only region in the world that is expected to record high single digit economic growth rates in both 2008 and 2009″.

Overall new business globally was up 15 per cent at Prudential, with UK retail business up 14 per cent and the UK business as a whole rising 38 per cent.

“This is a very good overall result and we are well positioned to continue to achieve profitable market share growth, outperforming our competition, even in these very challenging markets,” Mr Tucker said.

He also admitted the global financial market conditions will remain highly challenging for some time.

“However… we remain very well positioned to outperform over the market cycle,” he concluded.

After strong gains yesterday, the Prudential share price was down 3.18 per cent at 10:25 BST today.