With-profits for the Sandler Suite: no way

Malcolm Berryman, Chief Executive of Liverpool Victoria, makes a plea in the FT today for including with-profits in the ‘Sandler Suite’ of products that can be sold to the public with lighter regulation (because their simplicity, clarity and low cost greatly reduce the risks the customer will buy a pig in a poke). In seeking to differentiate Liverpool & Victoria from other with-profits providers who have much lower reserves and very little equity-backing (quite fairly), he makes the strongest case of all against a with-profits fund: the customer’s selection risk needs to be diversified.