There is little sign of policyholder panic at the recent news of Standard Life's difficulties with the UK financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), and its decision to review its mutual status.

The publicity has stimulated talk of "windfalls", with speculation about how much people might get if the company decided to demutualise and who would be eligible.

Up to 100,000 Irish policyholders could qualify for a windfall.

There has also been interest from carpetbaggers on website discussion boards wanting to know whether anyone joining the mutual now will qualify for a windfall (they will not).

But there has been no mass rush for the exit by customers worried about the possibility of Standard Life going the same way as Equitable Life.

Standard Life in the UK says it has experienced a small increase in calls, from the usual daily average of 5,500 to 6,000-7,200 last week, but says that is low compared with other big announcements.

There has been a different reaction, however, from people who moved to Standard Life from Equitable Life.

Ms Liz Kwantes, co-ordinator of the Equitable Life Members Organisation, says: "We had an initial flurry of calls and emails, although it died down. But people are genuinely worried. A lot of them are questioning what to do with their money."

Mr Michael Craig, finance and actuarial director for Standard Life Ireland, said there had been "very, very few" calls from Irish policyholders. Mr Craig said it was "business as usual for Ireland" for the time being.

Policyholders in the UK who took out policies since the start of the company's financial year have been given the option of cancelling without financial penalty.

This offer has not yet been made to Irish policyholders.

As a result of the company's agreement with the FSA, more than 65,000 with-profits policyholders at Standard Life Ireland will see the 0.5 per annum mutuality bonus eliminated from illustrative projections showing what returns they are likely to get.

There was more bad news for policyholders yesterday as Standard Life made further reductions to with-profits bonuses, cutting the value of maturity payments.

This follows an average 15 per cent cut in maturity payments this time last year and a further 6 per cent cut last August.

The bonus announcement did not include information on the mutual's financial position under the FSA's new realistic reporting requirements.

Analysts are expecting to see these figures in February because life companies usually have to file returns to the FSA three months after their year-end, which for Standard Life is November 15th.

But Standard Life says it will only be providing returns on a statutory basis at that time, using the old method of calculating assets and liabilities to work out financial strength.

It will not publish a realistic balance sheet, with much stricter rules about how much money must be set aside to cover expected payouts, until the end of March, at the same time as its plc competitors whose year-end is December 31st.

Mr Alastair Smith, insurance analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton, thinks Standard Life implied it would publish realistic figures in February in a conference call. And he says that if it does not: "It is more evidence of the difficulties Standard Life has had in complying with the FSA's latest requests." - (Financial Times Service, additional reporting: Laura Slattery)