Many of Scottish Provident's 75,000 Irish policyholders are in line for payments worth between £6,000 and £8,000, following the sale of the life assurance group to Abbey National.
Scottish Provident estimates qualifying policyholders will, on average, receive a payment of £4,500 sterling (£5,921) to surrender their membership to Abbey Life. Some policyholders may also qualify for a further £1,500 sterling (£1,973). The minimum payment to qualifying policyholders is £500 sterling (£657), according to Scottish Provident. Payments are expected to be made in autumn 2001.
The company does not have exact figures to indicate how many of the Irish policyholders will qualify for the maximum payment. A spokeswoman explained that those who took out a Scottish Provident with-profits policy before January 1st, 1996, were likely to qualify. Holders of with-profits policies taken out before April 6th, 2000, may also qualify.
A special information line has been set up for Irish policyholders, which will help to quickly establish the scale of individual entitlements. It can be reached at 1890 923057. Questions can also be e-mailed to Scottish Provident at review@scotprovi.co.uk.
Under the terms of the agreement with Abbey Life, Scottish Provident's 325,000 with-profits policyholders will share £1.58 billion sterling. A further £480 million sterling accrued by the company in unclaimed policies will also be distributed to qualifying members. The deal values the company at £2.06 billion sterling and is expected to be finalised by summer 2001.
Scottish Provident employs 200 people at its Dublin office. Yesterday it said there would be "no wholesale" redundancies as a result of the sale and it would continue to have a commitment to Edinburgh.
The deal is being recommended to members following a boardroom review of the company's operations in February, aimed at maximising value for its 450,000 members. In a statement, the board of Scottish Provident said it believed the recommended option represented the most attractive proposal to members.
