Equitable Life may have to pay compensation to around 1,500 policyholders after a case was upheld by the Financial Ombudsman Service. The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) found that the company knowingly gave bad advice to a 'late joiner' policyholder, who signed up after September 1998, when the firm was already aware of its financial difficulties. Equitable Life will have to pay compensation to this policyholder, which is likely to open the floodgates for other claims to be made. The company are at present deciding whether to appeal against the ruling.
Our view:
Justified if Equitable really did know they had serious problems.