Pass The Parcel

Pass The Parcel

The endowment scandal has created a legal version of pass the parcel as policyholders claim damages from those who mis-sold these useless products and they, in turn, claim damages from insurance companies etc.

Legal Week recently reported that Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) is facing a multimillion-pound negligence claim relating to its involvement in a case brought by Standard Life.

Standard Life Assurance recently won a case against AON, and stands to be awarded up to £75M.

Aon has brought its own negligence claim against RPC, as a third party to the proceedings, and a second trial will now take place to decide whether or not the firm was negligent.

Aon's claim against RPC argues that the firm did not recognise that the wording of the policy meant claims could not be grouped together.

Now don't you think that all this trouble, time and expense could be avoided if the life assurance companies simply underwrote these useless, underperforming and badly managed polices?

Sir Nicholas Montagu

Sir Nicholas Montagu

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, has questioned the impartiality, effectiveness and independence of the Norwich Union With-Profits Committee (set up to protect the interests of policyholders).

He is concerned about Norwich Union's plans to distribute a proportion of its inherited estate to policyholders over three years, as opposed to a one off lump sum payment.

Mr Cable wrote to Sir Nicholas Montagu, chairman of the committee, questioning the committee's role in allowing the special bonus to be phased over three years.

Quote:

"Your committee has been established to protect the interests of policyholders and yet in your first public act you seem to have destroyed any prospect of being seen as a credible champion for them."

Montagu, a former civil servant who presided over the Inland Revenue during a period of bungles and who now gives after-dinner speeches for £5K a time, is seemingly reluctant to answer questions from "This Is Money" about this decision.

However, Montagu is paid from policyholders' funds to safeguard their interests therefore he is obliged to answer questions from policyholders.

Policyholders should send their complaints, comments and any queries relating to his role to:

Sir Nicholas Montagu,
Norwich Union With-Profits Committee,
Norwich Union Life,
2 Rougier Street,
York
YO90 1UU.

With-profits committees, if they are to really serve the policyholders that they claim to represent, need to be independent, impartial and effective.

It would appear that some fall short of this.

Call For Evidence

Call For Evidence

In a move designed to ensure that another endowment related scandal does not occur, the Treasury Select Committee has called for written evidence as part of its inquiry into the orphan assets (Inherited Estate) held by life companies' with-profits endowment funds.

The call comes as concerns are raised over the actions of AXA, Prudential and Norwich Union as they attempt to re attribute their Inherited Estates.

These assets are worth billions of pounds yet, despite these funds being contributed by policyholders, some insurance companies have been using a portion of them for the benefit of their shareholders rather than policyholders.

In 2000 AXA paid out a paltry 31% of its inherited estate to policyholders, this gave rise to the FSA to creating the post of Policyholder Advocate.

Claire Spottiswoode, Policy Advocate, is currently acting on behalf of Norwich Union policyholders.

Ms Spottiswoode, who is not happy with the current plans by Norwich Union (eg to pay the policyholders their share over 3 years), has welcomed the call for evidence:

"Foremost among the issues will be the way in which the FSA allows companies to subsidise the writing of new business, which has the effect in a re attribution of transferring value from the estate directly to shareholders.

Further, the way in which the FSA allows companies to pay shareholder tax from the estate is costly to policyholders and requires explanation."

The committee would like to hear about the following areas:

• The regulatory definition of the inherited estate in a with-profits fund.



• The extent to which life assurance companies should be permitted to diminish inherited estate in order to subsidise corporate activity, including financing new business, making strategic investments, paying shareholder tax and paying the costs of compensation for mis-selling.



• Whether allowing life assurance companies to use inherited estate to subsidise corporate activity has any adverse effects on competition.



• The principles that should guide the division of inherited estates in 90:10 funds between policyholders and shareholders upon re attribution of the estate.



• The appropriate sharing of inherited estate between current and future policyholders.



• Whether policyholders' reasonable expectations of distributions from inherited estate should be zero or have a positive value.



• Whether any distribution of benefits from the inherited estate should be made in a single payment or phased over several years.



• The role and responsibilities of the Policyholder Advocate.



• The framework for negotiation between the Policyholder Advocate and the life assurance companies.



• The role of the with-profits committees of life assurance companies.



• The approach of the Financial Services Authority to the issue of inherited estate.

Written evidence should be sent to the committee at this address Parliamentary Committee.

Sauce For The Goose

Sauce For The Goose

It is refreshing to read for once a story about a life assurance company suing a broker for mis-selling, rather than an endowment policy holder suing a broker or life assurance company.

In this particular case Standard Life sued brokers Aon for advising it to take out the wrong indemnity insurance, to cover claims for mis-selling of mortgage endowments policies.

I would venture to suggest that had they not mis-sold the policies in the first place, they would not have needed to take the cover out!

Standard Life won the case and stands to gain £75M, the final amount will be determined at another hearing.

The judge ruled that Aon had been negligent, as no reasonably competent broker could have concluded that Standard Life's needs were clearly met by the policy.

I can't but help feel a small amount of shadenfreude over this.

Now at least one life insurance company may know what the millions of us, who were sold these useless underperforming endowments, feel like.

Norwich Union - Eligibility For Reattribution Payment

Norwich Union - Eligibility For Reattribution Payment

In order to find out whether your with profits Norwich Union policy is eligible for a Reattribution Payment, please visit this site.

Which? Campaign Against Norwich and Prudential

Which? Campaign Against Norwich and Prudential

Which? has launched a campaign against Norwich Union's and Prudential's plans for reallocating the assets of their respective inherited estates.

Which? does not mince its words, and refers to the schemes as "rip offs".

"Which? is calling on the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to act to prevent £7 billion of with-profits policyholders’ money being 'reallocated' to shareholders.

Without a change in FSA policy, millions of Norwich Union and Prudential policyholders could lose out. Which? believes it is unacceptable for the Government and FSA to stand by and do nothing to stop this smash and grab raid."

Which? are asking for people who hold with profits policies with Norwich Union and Prudential to contact them at withprofits@which.co.uk

I have a policy with Norwich Union, and most certainly be in contact with them.

Norwich Union Windfall

Norwich Union Windfall

Some good news for over a million Norwich Union endowment policyholders. They have been promised a share of a £2.1BN arising from Norwich's "orphan assets" or "inherited estate" surplus.

Norwich Union has agreed to hand back almost half the £5.4BN surplus in its two main with-profits funds.

Individual payouts will vary, depending on the size of investment and how long it has been in force. However, projections indicate that policyholders should see the value of their assets increase by 10% by 2010.

It is also estimated that approximately 50,000 holders of Norwich Union mortgage endowment policies, currently projected to shortfall, will be reassigned a "green light" over the next three years.

Policyholders will receive 90% per cent of the £2.3 billion being distributed. The remaining 10% will go to shareholders.

Norwich Union have tabled a separate offer of a cash payment to policyholders in exchange for renouncing their claims on the rest of the estate (£3.1BN).

Clare Spottiswoode, the policyholder advocate responsible for securing the best deal for Norwich Union customers, is not entirely happy with the arrangement. She is quoted in the Times as saying:

"The money is available now, so how on earth can it be fair to deny it to policyholders now?"

She also called on Norwich Union to backdate payouts to cover customers who have cashed out of policies since November, when Norwich first said that it would press ahead with a distribution.

IFA's who have paid out compensation, because of Norwich Union's mis-selling of endowment policies, are also not that happy. They are asking why, if the policies now look like thy are going to revert to surplus, should they have been penalised.

Banned For Life

Banned For Life

Jonathan Leigh Hardie, of Primedale Financial Services, has been banned indefinitely from being a senior manager by the FSA, for refusing to investigate nearly 400 cases of alleged endowment mis-selling.

Primedale Financial Services had been the subject of complaints over a five year period, to May 2006. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) had received 389 complaints over this period about potential endowment mis-selling, out of around 3,000 mortgage endowment policies sold between 1988 and 1999.

The FSA state that Hardie had "already decided that Primedale had never knowingly mis-sold an endowment policy", and refused to assess the claims properly.

The company is now in liquidation, and as a result of the FSA ruling Hardie is banned from entering senior management.

FSA Bends In The Wind

FSA Bends in The Wind

The Financial Services Authority (FSA), has given discounts of £4M on fines imposed on banks, building societies, mortgage firms and stockbrokers over the past year.

The firms (eg Nationwide, Capital One and Norwich Union) had been found guilty of serious rule breaches ranging from mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) to failing to adequately safeguard the personal details of customers.

The discounts offered are in the region of 30%, in return for promising to co-operate and not challenging the FSA's findings at tribunal.

Which? is far from impressed, and accuses the FSA of "putting the interests of the industry over those of consumers".

The FSA has decided to bend in the wind as a result of the fight it had with Legal & General in 2005, over its endowments mis-selling case.

L&G successfully appealed against the size of the fine imposed on it.

The FSA is showing excessive weakness, it neglects the fact that were a firm to complain about the size of a fine it would receive an enormous amount of negative publicity during the tribunal.

By offering such large discounts, the FSA has let the insurance and banking industry have its cake and eat it.

Commercial Union Cut Payouts

Commercial Union Cut Payouts

Those unfortunate endowment policy holders who save with Commercial Union are in for a very unpleasant shock this year.

A saver who put in £50 a month for 25 years from January 1 1983, (from age 29) will receive just £39,321. This is 10% down on the £43,697 paid out on a 25-year plan taken out in January 1 1982.

To add to the misery, it is 19.6% down on the £48,889 paid out two years ago.

The odd thing is the fund, in which these policies are invested, grew by 5.4% last year and 11.7% the year before.

Why the cut the cut then?

Will the senior management of Commercial Union be taking a cut in their bonuses too?

Will Commercial Union be cutting their management charges, given that the fund is not producing the payouts that holders were led to believe it would?

As ever, it the hapless long suffering endowment policy holder that is left to foot the bill for failure not the managers of the endowment company.