Endowment Shortfall and Orphan Assets

MakingEndsMeetToo

Like many other members posting here I'm facing a shortfall in my endowment policy, linked to my mortgage. Sadly, I have been unable to locate any information to support a misselling claim, and in any event "my time has expired" according to the industry deadlines.

However, I recall that many (all?) large insurance companies maintain(ed) a fund of so-called "Orphan Assets", originally as a hedge against bad times but now seen as a shareholders' and executive bonus payment. My policy is with AXA who led the stampede to "free up" these monies which I think would have been more correctly used to compensate policyholders, but sadly the law courts didn't agree.

I'd be interested to hear other people's views on this topic - maybe it's something worth pursuing.

EdInvestor

AVIVA plans to distribute its orphan assets to members of its Commercial Union and General Accident WP funds in the next year or two.

Other than the Pru, most other insurers don't have many orphan assets left.
They disappeared in the last stockmarket crash, the biggest pile being lost at Standard Life