HM Treasury News Release

138/98                                 14 August 1998
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       ALL FIRMS OVER HALF-WAY TO RESOLVING PENSIONS MIS-
                         SELLING CASES
                                
All of the pensions firms being monitored by the Treasury have
now resolved over half of their priority cases according to
figures published today.

The figures show:

     all firms have now resolved over half of their cases;

     all but 9 of the firms have resolved over 75% of cases.

The Economic Secretary, Patricia Hewitt said:

     "I am heartened to see that all firms have now passed the
     half-way mark. However many of them still have a long way
     to go to meet the end of year deadline for completing all
     their priority cases. The laggards really must give this
     top priority."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1.   Recent fines on pensions firms from the Personal Investment
     Authority include: 

     The M&E Network               Aug 1997       #100,000
     DBS Financial Management      Sep 1997       #425,000
     Friends Provident             Sep 1997       #450,000
     Albany Life                   Nov 1997       #375,000
     London & Manchester           Jan 1998       #525,000
     Countrywide                   Feb 1998       #250,000
     Britannic Assurance           Mar 1998       #525,000
     Sun Life of Canada            Apr 1998       #600,000
     Financial Options             June 1998      #250,000
     Lincoln                       June 1998      #70,000
     J&H Marsh & McLennan          June 1998      #200,000
     Minet Consultancy Services    July 1998      #250,000

2.   If you have access to the Internet you can find his news
     release and other Treasury materiak at http://www.hm-
     treasury.gov.uk.    

PROGRESS BY PENSIONS FIRMS IN RESOLVING CASES OF PERSONAL
PENSIONS MIS-SELLING IN THE PERIOD TO THE END OF JULY 1998


50-75% of cases
resolved

DBS                2,021     610    612   137    475   313  15  52

Burns Anderson     1,219     379    325   158    167   134  11  55

Financial
Options              438     193     56    23     33    26   6  55

Countrywide        4,905   2,555    294   179    115    96   2  58

Gan               12,128   1,869  7,197   696  6,501 4,990  41  62

Abbey Life        17,643   5,253  7,374 1,163  6,211 5,570  32  68

Windsor Life       9,593   3,669  3,428   306  3,122 2,591  27  68

Lincoln
National          13,405   2,051  8,734 1,297  7,437 6,008  45  70

London 
and Manchester     8,497   1,423  5,223   617  4,606 4,133  49  73

Over 75% of cases resolved

Hill Samuel        6,163     896  4,058   671  3,387 3,026  49  75

IFA Network          375     122    165   110     55    50  13  75

Berkeley 
Independent          183     115     24    20      4     4   2  76

Colonial           8,632   2,907  4,304   497  3,807 3,176  37  76

Friends
Provident          7,040   1,150  4,722   706  4,010 3,591  51  77

Standard Life      7,180     836  5,066 1,127  3,939 3,653  51  78

NatWest           15,330   4,762  8,348 1,185  7,163 6,077  40  78

Canada Life        5,613     419  4,638   629  4,009 3,416  61  80

Sedgwick          16,625   9,001  4,570 1,710  2,860 2,551  15  80

CIS               43,960   6,280 32,397 13,608 18,789 15,268 35 80

Albany Life        3,084     672  2,199   202  1,997 1,639  53  81

Sun Life of 
Canada            28,401  12,781 12,959 2,466 10,493 9,102  32  86

Hogg Robinson      2,267     820  1,227   423    804   703  31  86

Equitable Life     7,614   1,931  4,948 1,756  3,192 2,889  38  86

Allied Dunbar     19,578   4,197 13,904 3,760 10,144 9,011  46  87

M&E Network          321     176    111    29     82    76  24  88

Pearl             47,459   4,114 40,060 5,676 34,384 31,977 67  88

Legal &
General           36,887  15,167 19,840 1,887 17,953 15,685 43  89

Wesleyan           4,181     308  3,701   997  2,704  2,536 61  92

Royal London      13,368   1,203 12,119 1,535 10,584 10,059 75  96


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).  






# = pounds sterling