Friends Provident is latest to continue with-profits cuts

Details of the bonus declaration statement reveal the average final bonus rate has been cut by around 4% compared with August last year, and even though the gross investment return on the with-profits fund was 10.7% in 2004, as the actual losses between 2000 and 2002 and realignment of with-profits investments values means policyholders will receive lower returns in the future. According to Friends Provident: “Regular bonus rates have been gradually reduced in order to slow the increase in guaranteed benefits, but despite the improved investment returns over the last two years, in a n...