Publication of Lord Penrose's report into the financial crisis at Equitable Life has certainly set the cat among the pigeons, and is already being labelled in some quarters of the industry as nothing more than a whitewash.
Its detail has not come as that much of a shock to the industry, even as, a) the executive of the firm has been mainly blamed for the dubious position in which its finances were maintained; b) regulatory bodies prior to the FSA's birth - the DTI, Treasury and Government Actuary's Department - have been fingered for not exactly knowing how the mutual insurer operated; and c) the government has lifted itself out of the compensation prospect by pointing out the company is still afloat and policyholders are therefore not entitled to payouts. Penrose goes to some length to criticise the firm'...
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