INSURANCE

Prudential Insurance Sales Records to Be Examined: The policy records of the Newark, N.J.-based company will be examined starting next week by regulators for 28 states as part of an investigation into its sales practices. Prudential Insurance Co. of America, the biggest U.S. life insurer, is the sole target of a multi-state task force examining allegations of churning, or deceptively replacing policyholders’ coverage at added cost. Prudential said it is cooperating with the investigation and that it agreed to provide information on about 45 million transactions, covering 4 million to 5 million policies, from Jan. 1, 1990, to Dec. 31, 1994. Investigators will study policy values, premium amounts and how customers made policy payments. The investigation may expand to include the other insurers, but the New Jersey insurance department would not name them. The investigation will be run by examiners from Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Washington and Washington, D.C.