Whether or not it was down to over ambitious bonus rates in the late 90s, bad investment decisions, high charges, regulatory costs, long term liabilities or the requirement to meet free asset ratios, the simple fact is that with-profits bonds have been shown up for what they truly are and there are a lot of unhappy investors out there!
So, with the big insurers alarmed at the sight of a huge tranche of high profit underperforming investment walking out of the door, they have resorted to a number of measures to try and convince us all that with-profits really is good after all. We have seen a concerted investment campaign through the trade press by one insurer. Some companies have held on to MVAs for as long as possible whilst others have brought long term guarantee dates to the attention of their investors. In the case of the Prudential, they have even tried to accuse advisers of “churning” in cases where clients were b...
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