Prudential Unit Reportedly Plans Cuts in Trading

Prudential Securities Inc., the sixth-biggest U.S. brokerage, is reducing its fixed-income trading and underwriting business for institutions, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Prudential spokesman Charles Perkins declined to comment.

The move comes after a series of high-level departures this year from Prudential Securities, the investment banking arm of Prudential Insurance Co., which is preparing to offer shares to the public.

“This is largely a retail firm. They probably decided that the institutional business is not important or profitable to them,” said Roy Smith, a New York University finance professor and former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner. “Not only is it a tough business, it’s dependent on being a big player.”

Prudential Securities is the 18th-largest seller of U.S. debt this year, according to Bloomberg data.