Sometimes you just wonder at the tactics involved in this increasingly litigious society. This week, a claim for unfair dismissal by a former fund manager at Abbey Life (Ireland) Ltd, then owned by Lloyds Abbey Life but since sold to Canada Life Assurance (Ireland), was settled in the High Court.

But not before the plaintiff's counsel outlined his case to the court, claiming that a high-performing fund investing in other Abbey funds for the benefit of certain key insurance brokers and some of their clients secured its performance only through a series of dodgy practices at the expense of other investors and that manipulation accounted for the performance of the only other star in the stable, its pension fund.

Such allegations will do little to inspire confidence in the companies themselves and the wider industry, particularly given the failure of the defence to elaborate on its simple denials.