News that the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s final report into the regulation of Equitable Life has been further delayed - until after October at the earliest – is more than a blow to its long suffering policyholders.
This much awaited report has been delayed yet again by the fact that the Treasury, the Government Actuaries Department and various other government bodies, have issued responses to the Ombudsman, Ann Abraham’s draft report, that are so lengthy that she has felt the need to ask for more time to consider them.
This, together with the need to circulate these responses and the intervening summer recess, mean that Abraham won’t be able to communicate with policyholders again until October.
It is difficult not to surmise that the Treasury chose to flood the Ombudsman with its 500 page response in a bid to delay publication of this key report until 2008, so that any flack arising from the Equitable debacle will not damage our Prime Minister-in-waiting while he is still at the Treasury.
Whatever the truth, Equitable Life policyholders deserve better. Since Equitable’s near collapse in 2000, the insurer has been nearly investigated out of existence, so how the Treasury and other bodies have suddenly found something new to say about Equitable’s demise is difficult to comprehend.
But with an EU Parliamentary report also due to be published soon, which is believed to look favourably on the issue of compensation, policyholders continue to be subjected to a rollercoaster of good and bad news.
All the more reason for the chairman and chief executive of Equitable to redouble their efforts to sell off the remaining with profits fund to a strong insurer which can restore, as far as is possible, the benefits due to the mutual’s long suffering policyholders.
If Abraham recommends that compensation should be paid as well, all the better. But given the current Government’s arrogant dismissal of previous Parliamentary Ombudsman reports, I wouldn’t hold your breath.
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