FSA action to beef up the financial stability of Standard Life forced the company to sell some £7.5bn worth of equities a year ago that would have brought a profit of £800m to with-profits policyholders because of stock market gains, The Scotsman writes.
The calculation excludes dividend reinvestments, and is based on the reduction in equities as a proportion of the with-profits fund to the current 35% from the previous 59%. ”Ironically, investors who stayed with a straightforward UK equity fund over the last year would be showing a big gain. Even if they opted for a standard FTSE100 tracker fund, they would now be showing a gain of some 10 per cent, or upwards of 13 per cent with dividend income re-invested,” the paper adds. Unfortunately, with the company looking to demutualise it is hardly in a position to launch any legal action a...
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