Making Your Choice

Policyholder Update 16 October 2009

Dear Policyholder,

Publication of High Court Judgement on Aviva Reattribution and Fund Transfer

Mr Justice Norris, the judge presiding at the Aviva reattribution and fund transfer, which was heard on 14 to 16 September 2009, has handed down his judgement today. The role of the court is not to look at the regulation or the legal aspects underlying the offer.

Mr Justice Norris makes clear that the role of the court is limited “The decision is in a sense a ‘binary’ one”. He goes on to say that only if a provision or group of provisions are manifestly unsatisfactory and are of such fundamental importance that sanction of the scheme might be withheld, it would be right to draw that to the attention of the applicants and afford an opportunity to amend it.

The judgement sets out the role of the court (in particular in paragraphs 8 and 9) and the factors that Mr Justice Norris considered in sanctioning the Aviva scheme. The Independent expert’s conclusions about security and benefit expectations are extremely important for the Court, as are the views of the Financial Services Authority (FSA). In turn the FSA’s comparison of the benefits to electing policyholders with the benefit to shareholders has been informed by the work of the policyholder advocate (paragraph 15).

The background to the appointment of the policyholder advocate and comments on the way the role has been carried out are described:

“She (Clare Spottiswoode ) has, it seems to me, if anything gone to greater lengths than her appointment strictly required to ensure that her duties were performed in a complete and transparent way. The distillation of an extremely complex proposal contained in the Guide to Policyholders, and the comprehensiveness of her report, give me confidence....”

Mr Justice Norris sets out elements of the scheme that are regarded as most important in paragraph 25. Having set out some background issues (from paragraph 36 – 59), he also responds to a number of objections that were made in Court (from paragraph 60).

Policyholders who wish to read the whole judgement may do so by clicking on this link http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2009/2521.html

We are in the last stages of completing our write up of the court proceedings and will advise you as soon as this is available.

Yours faithfully

Jonathan Haslam

director of communications