HONG KONG- Insurer Prudential PLC posted on Wednesday a rise of 16% in operating profit last year, helped by strong new insurance sales, but warned of wider implications for the global economy and markets from the Ukraine crisis.

Looming uncertainties triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine have prompted insurers to review their risk exposure. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation."

British life insurer Phoenix said on Tuesday it was talking to its asset management partners to understand how they are managing their Russia and Ukraine risks.

"The current conflict in Ukraine could have wider implications for global economic and market conditions as well as geopolitical relations," Mike Wells, Prudential group chief executive, said in a statement.

The conflict "may drive the bifurcation of global trade, financial systems and standards", the insurer separately noted in the review of geopolitical risks.

Adjusted operating profit of Prudential came in at $3.23 billion last year, it said in a statement.

The profit is up from 2020 figure of $2.75 billion, beating the $3.19 billion consensus of analysts' forecasts provided by the company and reversing a money-losing first half of 2021.

The company's Hong Kong shares were up 1.75% on Wednesday in a falling broader market.

Prudential entered 2022 with an improved balance sheet, with a $2.4 billion equity raise in Hong Kong in the fourth quarter, used to repay debts.

New business levels in Hong Kong, its Asia headquarters, however, continued to face pressure from the extended mainland China border closure in 2021, the company said in the statement.

"The timing of the opening of the Hong Kong border remains uncertain and COVID-19 will continue to have an impact", said Wells, who announced his retirement by the end of this month.

The incoming chief executive of Prudential may be based outside Hong Kong initially, as the financial hub grapples with a surging COVID-19 pandemic.

The results are the life insurer's first after two strategic demergers that left Prudential focusing on Asian and African markets.

It offloaded its U.S. business Jackson last September, following a spin-off of British and European business M&G in 2019.

(Reporting by Selena Li in Hong Kong and Carolyn Cohn in London; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Christopher Cushing)