Canada Life and Sun Life policyholders making plans about how to spend their expected windfall from the flotation would be wise to put them on hold for the time being. Policyholders who stood to gain windfall payments of free shares worth more than £2,000 may be disappointed.

Both flotations are now expected to be delayed following the decision of the Canadian government to launch public hearings and a shareholder task force to investigate them. Legislative changes and government guidelines are required before the insurers can move ahead with flotation plans. But these changes are not expected to take effect for some time, with some analysts estimating this process could delay the flotations until the year 2000.