In Reply to: AVC contributors misled? posted by Jon on 01 May 2003 at 12:17:50:
: Many people will have been unaware when they made AVC contributions that Equitable Life had GAR agreements with some of their customers. It seems to me obvious that the GAR agreements increased the risk to all other customers of Equitable Life. Is this not effectively "mis-selling"? Should the IBM Pensions Trust have informed potential AVC contibutors better?
>I reckon so. Perhaps then it would have become alert to the risk to the GAR community as well.
I believe you and others in your position have now gained relative to reasonable expectations (given the circumstances) compared to those who were paying for a GAR, as your peers have I believe through mass action equalised the benefits for the non-GAR and GAR populations, reducing the risk to themselves, adding risk to the GAR population and removing for them the 'G' in GAR. Altogether an amazing achievement, considering the respective contracts entered into.
I accept compensatory donations from non-GAR contracted investors.
The question perhaps should be, should IBM have endorsed AVCs with EL for any employee at any time once EL had started to give guarantees is was not making proper provision for (i.e. whether the employee was getting a 'G'AR or not)?