# standard life demutualising



## aaa (19 Jan 2004)

I read that it could take up to 2 years. my 25 year policy matures this summer. does that mean i'll miss out on any windfall.


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## Brendan Burgess (19 Jan 2004)

I don't know if you can extend such a policy or not.

But, the surrender value of such policies has been declining every year for the past few years. You might lose more than you gain. 

Brendan


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## Dogbert (20 Jan 2004)

*Standard Life*

I gather from the UK papers that Standard Life have offered a refund of money to any customer who has invested in their with-profit fund since November 2003 (the beginning of their current financial year) - not sure if it was a voluntary step or whether it was forced into it by the FSA.

Anyone know whether the same option is being offered to Standard's Irish customers, and if not, why not ?


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## RAIPI (20 Jan 2004)

*Standard Life*

That's a good question, Dogbert. I've been very disappointed that the coverage here so far, including here on AAM, seems limited only to the issue of demutualisation and hasn't dealt with the very significant difficulties Standard is facing.

It seems to me that an adviser would be nuts to place business with an organisation which has:
* fired its CEO,
* suspended trading in its subordinated debt,
* been forced to offer refunds to recent customers,
* been subjected to an independent review by the regulator of its financial reporting and management.

What sort of "reasons why" letter do advisers think would satisfy an IFSRA enquiry as to why business was given to Standard Life unless the current issues are satisfactorily resolved. Yet there has been no discussion of this.

In the UK, in contrast, there has been plenty of coverage. For example, 





> IFAs should not recommend putting clients into Standard Life with-profits products until the issue of the FSA investigation into its financial strength calculations has been resolved, says Wentworth Rose managing director Philip Rose.
> Rose says IFAs should beware a repeat of the Equitable Life situation where clients continued to go into the life office after initial solvency warnings had been raised.
> Rose says: "This is the worst of all possible situations, with Standard saying there is an FSA investigation but it is OK to carry on doing business. If there is a problem then the FSA has a duty to say something. This needs a speedy resolution." (Money Marketing)


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## Kinsale (23 Jan 2004)

*Standard Life*

Are now applying new charges to all With Profit policies.
The charges are to apply to all new and existing policies and range from 0.25% to 0.75%.


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## Karen Mc Dougal (23 Jan 2004)

*Standard Life*

The Following is a current list of articles that can be found on [broken link removed]


Standard Life to consider demutualisation 
Standard Life chief executive Lumsden steps down 
Standard Life Bank unlikely to be affected 
WP policyholders will get windfalls, says Cizdyn 
FSA to launch independent review of Standard Life 
Standard will be better off as a plc say Wentworth Rose 
Cazalet warns Standard listing will be no cash windfall 
IFAs say Lumsden had to go 
Standard says financial position stronger than last year 
No impact on current surrender values 
Standard won't talk about mutual benefits 
Standard Life refuses to comment on UBS floatation plan claims 
Cazalet predicts Standard bonus cuts and curtailing of new business 
Standard Life says announcement coming tomorrow 
Wait before recommending Standard says Wentworth Rose 
Standard carpetbagger describes latest development as worrying 
Media reports of Standard problems exaggerated - Reid 
Cazalet says Standard talks reflect concerns 
No crisis says Standard 
FSA likely to be in talks with other life offices says AKG 
Analyst plays down question over Standard solvency 
No reason to panic over Standard's solvency says McPhail 
FSA in talks with Standard over financial strength  
Standard shock charges stun IFAs  
Standard may need to sell loan and healthcare arms 
Standard sparks questions over value of rating agencies


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## RAIPI (23 Jan 2004)

*At Last*

someone on this side of the Irish Sea has noticed - Bill Tyson and John Geraghty in today's Indo.

Rory O'Riordan (Standard's Irish CEO) didn't sound too convincing in some of his comments, I thought. They haven't decided yet whether or not they'll be offering recent Irish investors a refund, as is the case in the UK, because 





> In the UK they had a lot more time to prepare for this


 Are we supposed to believe that no-one in Standard Life Ireland knew what was going on in Standard Life UK?? And if so, is that supposed to reassure us?? There's too much "trust us, we're still as strong as we ever were" in a lot of what they're saying.

Existing investors probably shouldn't get out, but, as posted above, I can't see any reason why new ones should want to get in. Standard sold itself on mutuality, consequent low charges, and financial strength. The first two are gone by the board, and the third is now very questionable. Stay away until the picture is clearer.


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## <A HREF=http://pub145.ezboard.com/baskaboutmoney.s (23 Jan 2004)

*Re: At Last*



> Standard sold itself on mutuality, consequent low charges, and financial strength. The first two are gone by the board, and the third is now very questionable. Stay away until the picture is clearer.



Sounds 'ELlishly familiar... :|


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## Dogbert (26 Jan 2004)

*Standard Life*

Isn't this the kind of issue IFSRA should be getting involved in, rather than telling us to shop around for car insurance. Surely no-one can argue that Standard's Irish customers are entitled to any less than their UK customers, and if Standard won't offer that themselves, then the regulator should step in in the consumer's interest.


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## Ageonite (26 Jan 2004)

*THE KEY QUESTION*

Take it as read that any IFA with a brain isn't going to recommend SL's UWP anymore - not until the waters clear if ever. The KEY QUESTION is whether those in the UWP fund should get out even taking the MVA hit? That's the €64m question. Any advices?


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## Sober One (26 Jan 2004)

*Standard Life's unique algebra*

Standard Life knows the monkeys in their ROI branch are well capable of dealing with their Irish proliteriate investors and have obviously decided not to tell them anything. To me this only cements the mutual feeling that since the enquiry they have become even more complacent and arrogant. 

It amazes me that the regulator (IFSRA) appears to operating as nothing more than a sluicegate.


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