Savers flounder as Capt Lumsden 得る，とらえるs the lifeline

By Jeff Prestridge for The Mail on Sunday
Updated: 00:00 BST, 18 January 2004

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NO ONE should 嘆く／悼む the sudden 出発 last week of Iain Lumsden from the 橋（渡しをする） of the 創立者ing ship 基準 Life. The 相互の has lurched from 災害 to 災害 since Lumsden took the 舵輪／支配 of 基準 Life from Scott Bell in 2001, the only losers 存在 its 患者 2.6 million with-利益（をあげる）s policyholders.

The society's over-（危険などに）さらす to 公正，普通株主権s has seen its 財政上の health 低迷 from good to bad, resulting in a £7 billion withering of the with-利益（をあげる）s 基金, 特別手当 削減（する）s for policyholders, and the 財政上の Services 当局 sending its auditors to trawl through the 調書をとる／予約するs. Demutualisation is now the only escape 大勝する.

Of course, the 乱打するing that 顧客s have taken has not been 株d by 57-year-old Lumsden and his fellow directors.

In 2002, for example, 特別手当s of more than £100,000 were paid to Lumsden and Sandy Crombie, the man who has taken over from him. Lumsden will also not be short of a （頭が）ひょいと動く or two in his 退職, 製図／抽選 a 年金 価値（がある） about £300,000 a year.

When someone comes to 令状 a 調書をとる／予約する about the 落ちる of the once mighty 相互の 基準 Life - perhaps a 職業 for 非，不，無-(n)役員／(a)執行力のある director and former 新聞記者／雑誌記者 Alison Mitchell in her dotage - Lumsden's 遺産／遺物 to the society and the 保険 産業 will be 述べるd as follows.

First, he was the man who put the final nail in the 棺 labelled 'with-利益（をあげる）s', an 投資 概念 that has no 未来 in a world where 消費者s are 叫び声をあげるing out for greater transparency.

Secondly, he was the man who finally destroyed mutuality.

Goodbye Iain Lumsden. You won't be 行方不明になるd.

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THE long-を待つd Penrose 報告（する）／憶測 into the 炉心溶融 of former life 保険 巨大（な） Equitable Life is 推定する／予想するd to be published by the 政府 in the coming weeks. Lord Penrose's 800-page tome - 加える 広範囲にわたる appendices - will chart the rise and 落ちる of Equitable Life, 最高潮に達するing in its 近づく 崩壊（する）. < /p>

The 報告（する）／憶測, 30 months in the making, should 証明する something of a watershed, even though it will not 含む 推薦s about whether 補償（金） should be paid to those who ゆだねるd their life 貯金 to this 相互の, only to be let 負かす／撃墜する by 甚だしい／１２ダース mismanagement of its 資産s.

With the 出版（物）, a 解答 to Equitable Life's long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 未来 should be much closer than has seemed possible for a long time.

Yet, while Penrose has been prolific in his 生産（高） of words, it is important not to get too carried away with what he has to say.

For a start, they are the words of one man who does not have the しっかり掴む of the コンビナート／複合体 life 保険 産業 that a high-飛行機で行くing actuary would 所有する.

And, for all his words, Penrose has not touched on 重要な 面s of Equitable's 拒絶する／低下する, 顕著に the 役割 of former auditors Ernst & Young and the directors of the society who oversaw its 財政上の 落ちる during the Nineties.

This is because of the multi-billion-続けざまに猛撃する litigation that Equitable Life has 開始する，打ち上げるd against these two 重要な parties, 予定 to reach the High 法廷，裁判所 in April next year. As a result, the 報告（する）／憶測 will be far from a 完全にする review of the debacle.

Finally, it is understood that Vanni Treves, chairman of Equitable Life, has not been interviewed by Penrose. If this is the 事例／患者, the 報告（する）／憶測 will again be sadly 欠如（する）ing.

A review of Equitable Life can hardly be said to be 完全にする if the man who has been 猛烈に trying to keep the 相互の's 長，率いる above water for the past three years has been ignored.

Penrose's 返答 to this 批評 might be to say that he had 取引 with Treves's 中尉／大尉／警部補, Charles Thomson. But surely the architect of Equitable's 回復 should have been 協議するd?

More important than the 報告（する）／憶測 will be Equitable's 返答 to it. The 報告（する）／憶測 might 供給する Treves with the 弾薬／武器 to 捜し出す 補償（金） from the 政府 for regulatory 失敗.

If it does not, or the 政府 簡単に 辞退するs to cough up, the 報告（する）／憶測's 出版（物） should give Treves the impetus to 確実にする a happy 結論 to the nightmare.

With Ernst & Young likely to settle rather than 危険 その上の 損失 by 存在 dragged through the High 法廷，裁判所, there is a chink of light at the end of the tunnel that should 最終的に see Equitable Life sold to a 競争相手, or its £11 billion with-利益（をあげる）s 基金 存在 再編するd. This would give the 750,000 policyholders greater 投資 freedom than they have now.

If that happens, it will not be because of anything that Penrose has written, but because the 専門家 危機 管理／経営 that Treves and his team have brought to 耐える at Equitable Life has held it 支援する from the precipice.