MPs Call For Equitable Life Assessment
Published / Last Updated on 14/10/2010
MPs Call For Equitable Life Assessment
by Ashley Clark, Director
A Parliamentary Select Committee, the Public Administration Select Committee, has called for the Government to make an assessment of the financial losses suffered by Equitable Life policyholders.
Loss estimates vary in the billions but the Parliamentary Ombudsman suggests losses of £4.8bn and the Government suggest compensation may be payable of just £500m in view of Government spending cuts.
Whilst these losses to pensioners and investors are terrible, we have to ask what are the regulator, the Ombudsman, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and the Government doing about it. It has after all been such a long time and is still not settled given that Equitable Life went public with their difficulties nearly 10 years ago.
Why is it that a UK Branch of an Icelandic Bank goes under, the banking sector of the FSCS pays compensation within 3 months?
When an independent ‘broking’ firm goes under e.g. Keydata with losses of £80m, the FSCS steps in to confirm that the ‘financial advisers’ market will pick up the bill earlier .
Yet when an insurer struggles, we are still 10 years on and still no light for poverty stricken claimants? Where is the FSCS claim on other insurers to foot the bill?
This is doing nothing to inspire credibility of regulators or the financial industry. Why is the Government seemingly picking up the bill? Why are insurers not picking up the compensation in the same way that financial advisers or bankers have?
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