Data on terminal bonuses omitted

Endowment mortgage policyholders at Standard Life are no longer receiving information on the value of their terminal bonus as part of their annual statements.

Mr Paul Keenan, a Dublin-based policyholder, said the failure to include the table of terminal bonuses attached in previous years was effectively hiding the extent of cuts in policies' value from customers.

When Mr Keenan rang Standard Life, he was told the terminal bonus currently applied to his 16-year-old policy had been reduced from 79 per cent in 2002 to 47 per cent. This drop reflects widespread cuts across the sector.

A spokesman for Standard Life said it had removed the table on terminal bonuses because it felt it was misleading. "There is no guarantee it will be that amount when the policy matures. The terminal bonus can give unrealistic expectations of the payout," he said.

The insurer is now reviewing terminal bonus values every three months.

The spokesman said the new format showed an illustrative surrender value, which reflected the surrender value reduction currently applied to people who exit their policies.

This reduction may cease to apply if market conditions recover.