Government announces introduction of Equitable Life Bill.
Government introduces a Bill to Parliament which will enable payments to be made to Equitable Life policyholders.
Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban MP announced today that the coalition government has introduced a Bill to Parliament, which will enable payments to be made to Equitable Life policyholders.
On May 26, the government said that it would establish an independent commission to advise the government on the best way to allocate payments to policyholders and help develop scheme design, in light of the Ombudsman’s recommendation that the payment scheme should be independent of the government.
Today, Mark Hoban announced that Brian Pomeroy, John Tattersall and John Howard have agreed to form the Independent Commission.
Mark Hoban said:
I am delighted that Brian, John and John have agreed to take on this important task. The skills, expertise and experience they bring are invaluable and I am confident we have the right people to do the job.
The Commission will start work imminently so that we can begin making payments as soon as possible. They are expected to report by the end of January 2011.
Notes for Editors
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In the coalition agreement, the government stated that it would implement the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman’s recommendation to make fair and transparent payments to Equitable Life policyholders, through an independent payment scheme, for their relative loss as a consequence of regulatory failure.
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On May 26 2010, the government announced that it would introduce a Bill to enable payments to be made to Equitable Life policyholders, as well as the intention to establish an independent commission to advise on the design of a payment scheme.
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Brief biographies:
Brian Pomeroy
- Brian Pomeroy was the Senior Partner of Deloitte Consulting until 1999, when he took up a number of public, private and voluntary sector appointments
- he is currently Chairman of the Treasury’s Financial Inclusion Taskforce and of the Gambling Commission. He is a member of the Financial Reporting Review Panel and is a director and Deputy Chair of QBE Insurance Europe Ltd. and QBE Underwriting Ltd
- he is a Board Member of The Social Market Foundation and Chairman of The Photographers’ Gallery. He is also a Board member of the FSA
John Tattersall
- John Tattersall retired in 2009 as Chair of the Financial Services Regulatory Practice and a senior client relationship partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP
- he is a former Chair of the Risk & Regulation Committee of the Financial Services Faculty of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales
- he is currently a Board Member of Bradford & Bingley PLC and Chair of its Risk & Compliance Committee, a Board Member of the Financial Services Commission in Gibraltar, and a Board Member and Chair of the Audit Committee of R. Raphael & Sons plc (“Raphael’s Bank”)
John Howard
- John Howard is a former Chair of the FSA’s consumer panel. He served as Chair for a 3-year term
- he was a member of the Consumer Panel for over four years prior to becoming Chair and was a member of the Mortgage Code Compliance Board, until its activities were taken over by the FSA in November 2004. He was also a member of the Council of Energywatch from April 2005 to 2008
- he is a non-executive director of the Financial Ombudsman Service and a non-executive director of the Board of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority
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