Continued gloom over with-profits bonuses

The Profession says policyholders seeking generous payouts from the late 1990s would not have much to be joyful about. Policyholders should not be surprised: the body warned last year that "payouts are continuing to fall and are set to do so for a number of years yet.” With continuing low yields on gilt-edged stock and the negative returns resulting from investing in equities between 2000 to 2003, that forecast has been well warranted. Additionally, weak stockmarkets have forced life companies to sell equities in 2002 and 2003 in order to meet the FSA’s strict solvency requirements, ...