Loans and profits make up bulk of "free assets", says MOW

Free assets of life office with-profits funds tended to contain more "soft" assets such as contingent loans and future profits in 2002 than hard capital, suggests a study conducted by Mercer Oliver Wyman. But they are also no different to most other European funds, suggests MOW, as the capital base of many European life companies is not necessarily reflected by its free assets within the with-profits funds. Data compiled on 28 UK life offices indicates that around 70% of free asset capital - compared with 30% in 2001 - was actually made up of softer capital such as future profits,...