Equitable Life

The Equitable Life debacle is now a decade or more old, yet many thousands of investors in its with-profits fund remain uncompensated for the losses they have suffered.

Any claims investors might have had against Equitable Life arising out of the High Court's ruling on guaranteed annuity rate policies or out of the various reports on its finances and management are now effectively barred by the Limitation Act.

There is still a small possibility of claims against the Government. This arises out of the Parliamentary Ombudsman's 2008 Report entitled "A Decade of Regulatory Failure" in which the Government was found guilty of maladministration and invited to compensate any investors who had suffered loss as a result. The Government's disappointing response was to appoint Sir John Chadwick to advise on an ex-gratia payment scheme to compensate only those investors who were "disproportionately affected".

We continue to keep a watching brief.