Ex-Equitable boss quits 'to fight ban'
FORMER Equitable Life chief executive Chris Headdon has left the financial services industry, four years after the insurer was brought to its knees.
Headdon, 47, moved to actuarial consultant Hazell Carr after leaving Equitable in March 2001.
But Financial Mail has learned that he has quit ahead of the damning Penrose report into the near-collapse of Equitable in the late Nineties.
Hazell Carr cited 'personal reasons' for Headdon's sudden departure.
One suggested reason is that he has resigned to fight a move by the Financial Services Authority to ban him for life from working in financial services.
Though the report by Lord Penrose is due to be published in the next two weeks, the City regulator is already a long way down the road to imposing a lifetime ban on Headdon. He was at Equitable when strategies were implemented that led to the mutual closing to new business and its brush with insolvency.
The FSA has already told Headdon it may ban him, but he has asked for his case to be heard by the Financial Services and Markets tribunal. This is the last hope for individuals or financial firms facing a fine or life ban. A hearing date has not been set.
Headdon and other former executives are expected to be heavily criticised by Penrose. His report has been sent to the Serious Fraud Office and Headdon's conduct is expected to be the focus of its investigations.
On Friday, Equitable said it was inappropriate to comment because of a legal claim for negligence already launched by the present board against Headdon and other former executives. The board is claiming £3.3 billion damages.
Headdon was not available for comment on Friday, but Craig Hope, his solicitor, confirmed that his client was leaving Hazell Carr.
He refused to comment further, saying only: 'My hands are tied.' The FSA declined to comment because it was 'a sensitive issue'.
Meanwhile, Royal & SunAlliance is locked in discussions with the FSA over the way that the insurer unfairly rejected complaints from mortgage endowment customers.
The worst outcome for the insurer would be a fine. It is likely to be forced to review 4,000 to 6,000 rejected complaints made last year.
Standard Life, the troubled insurer aiming to shed its mutual status, will confirm on Wednesday that it is reducing the shareholdings in its with-profits fund.
