Nearly 100,000 Standard Life investors have been told that a cash fund which many regarded as an ultra-safe alternative to the stockmarket was in reality invested in toxic mortgage debt that has plummeted in value, according to The Guardian .
The £2.4bn Standard Life Pension Sterling fund was the company's sole offering to pension investors who wanted to shelter their savings from market turmoil. But the company is writing to the fund's 97,000 investors warning them their average £19,100 deposit will be cut to £18,200 as a result of losses on mortgage-backed securities held in the fund. The news will dismay many investors who thought they were protected from stockmarket falls. Many were close to retirement and had parked their pension savings into the cash fund before turning it into an annuity. Savers at other pension compani...
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