Equitable inquiry to visit Dublin

The European Parliament's committee of inquiry into regulatory failure in the case of collapsed life assurer Equitable Life is to visit Dublin in October, where it will meet Irish policyholders and other key witnesses.

The committee, which is chaired by Fine Gael MEP Mairéad McGuinness, yesterday heard evidence from an annuity adviser who said UK regulators were "staring into the headlights" in relation to the company's financial situation.

Stuart Bayliss, managing director of Annuity Direct, told a meeting of the committee in Brussels that regulators appeared to have been bullied by a company in denial. Regulators knew as far back as 1998 there was problem, but were unaware of its extent.

Equitable Life collapsed after a House of Lords ruling in Britain forced the mutual company to honour guarantees made on some older policies.

Around one million Equitable customers, including 6,500 Irish investors, suffered heavy losses on their pensions and other investments when the ruling triggered massive cuts on the value of newer policies in 2001.

Richard Lloyd, who worked on Equitable's sales force in the UK until 2001, told the committee of a "military-style" culture at the company, where the salesforce did not believe there were any problems, because the board told them there were none.

The continued selling of Equitable's with-profits funds, was "reckless", Mr Lloyd said.

The committee will publish its final report by mid-2007.