Financial Services and Markets Bill
5:30 pm
Lord Donaldson of Lymington (Crossbench)
I support what was said by the noble Lord, Lord Grabiner. This amendment speaks of rates. Let me say I have no life insurance policies, but things may have changed since the days I took out with-profits policies with satisfactory results. I was always under the impression that my only right was a contractual right. If I looked in my policy, I would certainly be guaranteed a basic return--that is what I was after--but thereafter it would depend expressly, in contractual terms, on what bonuses were declared by the board.
Unless the animal has changed considerably, this amendment will leave me in exactly the same position as I was over the years; that is, I could go to the courts and say, "This company is going bankrupt", or, "This company is not going to meet its obligations", which were merely for the basic amount.