Keith Churchouse: End of another mutual and change ahead?

It was on 8 December 2000, some 21 years ago, that the UK's oldest mutual insurance company, Equitable Life Assurance Society, first formed in 1762, closed its doors to new business. It told a great story that eventually failed. As a financial planner with Equitable Life at the time, we had guessed the end was coming, both for the society in the format that most had grown to revere, and for our jobs. However, getting a phone call at 6.15am that morning to say, "turn the TV on", was still somehow a shock as the TV presenters detailed the well-documented downfall of this institution. It wa...