In response to today’s report from the Treasury Select Committee on inherited estates, the Chairman of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, David Lipsey, said:

“With-profits policyholders deserve a better deal than they are getting from providers on redistribution of inherited estates.  There is a lot of money at stake and what is happening to it is far from transparent. The Consumer Panel has nagged away at the FSA on the issue and we are glad at the progress that it has made - but like the Treasury Committee, we want more action, more quickly. On the basis of research we commissioned last year, we had told the FSA it needs to take steps to ensure the independence of with-profits committees, and to apply the principles of Treating Customers Fairly to the running of with-profits funds.

The sooner the firms involved stop defending the indefensible, the better for consumers - and in the long run for the financial services industry too.”

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Notes to editors