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Treasury

Answer

Mr. Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the progress by pensions firms in providing redress to the victims of mis-selling. [43584] Mrs. Liddell: The table shows the progress made in the period up to the end of April 1998 by the 41 firms whose results I have been publishing in the public interest. Most of these firms have continued to make good progress. Last May the regulators published figures showing by 31 March 1997 only 15 per cent. of cases had been resolved. I am pleased to say that the latest reports suggest that the largest firms, which together account for almost 85 per cent. of cases, have now dealt with about 74 per cent. of cases. When I met the Chairmen and senior executives of pensions firms a year ago I made clear that I would publish information monthly about the progress being made by each firm toward resolving their cases. In my statement in the House on 18 November I said that I would remove from this list the name of any firm which achieved its target for resolving priority cases. Information provided by firms to PIA indicates that several firms are close to achieving the targets set for them. If subsequent PIA inspections show that these initial indications are correct then the firms' names will be removed from the list. However, this does not mean that their work will be over. The regulators will continue to monitor firms, even after their targets have been met, to ensure that they follow through on offers of redress in a timely manner and establish the arrangements necessary to honour guarantees. I am asking the regulators to keep me informed. Progress by pensions firms in resolving cases of personal pensions mis-selling in the period to the end of April 1998 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. A B C D E F G H Under 25 per cent. of cases resolved DBS 3,945 122 364 196 168 115 3 11 25-50 per cent. of cases resolved Burns Anderson 1,132 279 200 114 86 73 6 41 Financial options 362 116 39 20 19 17 5 42 Gan 11,485 1,147 4,999 608 4,391 3,423 30 45 Countrywide 4,821 2,090 266 166 100 76 2 48 50-75 per cent. of cases resolved Lincoln National 13,388 1,579 6,435 1,074 5,361 4,105 31 50 Windsor Life 9,503 3,129 2,291 284 2,007 1,634 17 53 Abbey Life 17,426 4,381 6,424 959 5,465 4,491 26 56 IFA Network 316 74 109 77 32 30 9 57 Standard Life 7,006 715 3,804 939 2,865 2,465 35 59 London and Manchester 8,317 1,227 4,291 519 3,772 3,407 41 62 Friends Provident 6,924 1,021 3,642 547 3,095 2,731 39 62 Colonial 8,337 2,423 3,415 391 3,024 2,481 30 64 Hill Samuel 6,069 798 3,501 642 2,859 2,452 40 64 Canada Life 5,555 327 3,822 584 3,238 2,660 48 64 CIS 43,356 3,929 29,336 13,079 16,257 11,013 25 65 Royal & Sun Alliance 15,904 2,744 8,718 1,043 7,675 6,532 41 65 NatWest 14,971 4,369 6,831 1,076 5,755 4,575 31 67 Sun Life of Canada 27,158 8,935 11,130 2,104 9,026 7,499 28 68 Berkeley Independent 163 96 20 16 4 4 2 71 Albany Life 2,931 607 1,879 177 1,702 1,337 46 72 Allied Dunbar 19,037 3,914 11,440 3,318 8,122 6,697 35 73 Sedgwick 15,663 7,917 3,805 1,460 2,345 2,128 14 73 Equitable Life 7,500 1,764 4,068 1,545 2,523 2,243 30 74 Over 75 per cent. of cases resolved Britannic 19,424 5,119 11,928 2,875 9,053 6,622 34 75 Guardian 9,076 1,192 6,282 949 5,333 4,779 53 76 M&E Network 311 173 73 25 48 42 14 77 Legal & General 36,679 14,667 17,538 1,662 15,876 12,480 34 79 Lloyd's TSB 49,678 11,774 30,439 6,259 24,180 22,125 45 81 Commercial Union 7,814 1,277 5,433 787 4,646 4,306 55 82 Wesleyan 4,175 265 3,315 962 2,353 2,192 53 82 United Assurance 13,093 1,237 10,846 1,983 8,863 7,707 59 83 Royal London 12,564 1,117 10,479 1,457 9,022 7,975 63 84 Hogg Robinson 2,145 804 1,142 392 750 626 29 85 Pearl 46,551 3,871 39,043 5,647 33,396 30,262 65 85 Prudential 72,118 19,429 52,637 3,866 48,771 39,755 55 87 Barclays 17,007 6,126 9,805 2,219 7,586 6,604 39 88 AXA Equity and Law 3,969 774 2,941 609 2,332 2,174 55 90 Norwich Union 7,423 2,248 4,717 726 3,991 3,719 50 90 Godwins 1,478 113 1,351 456 895 778 53 91 Midland 4,844 534 4,154 489 3,665 3,512 73 94 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. A: cases identified as requiring review B: of A, cases where investor was informed that information gained during assessment excluded cases from review C: number of assessments completed D: cases where the investor has been informed that no redress is due E: cases where redress has been offered F: cases where redress has been accepted G: cases where redress has been accepted as a percentage of cases identified for review ((F/A)x100) H: cases completed, including exclusions, as a percentage of cases identified for review (((B+D+F)/A)x100)

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

43584; 312 c500-2W;312 c500-1W

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Consumers Investment Protection Personal pensions Misrepresentation Regulation Personal Investment Authority

Contains statistics

Yes