Aviva Reattribution - Be Sure to Vote!

Policyholders in Aviva's CGNU With Profits fund will have now received details of the offer that Aviva shareholders are willing to make to current policyholders in return for giving up the right to any future Special Distributions.

And what a bumper pack of information it is too! As an Independent Financial Adviser I've had a pack consisting of letter, summary sales aid, sample policyholder letter, sample voting form, a summary explaining all the supporting information available to advisers, the "It's your Choice" guide (48 pages), the Adviser Guide to Fund Transfer and Reattribution (32 pages) and the Policyholder Advocate's "Making your Choice" guide (32 pages).

I have to ask whether all that information is really necessary? The level of repetition in the first 10 pages of "It's your Choice" alone makes the prospect of reading any further one of dread for most policyholders I'm sure.

Interested in With Profits as I am, I persevered through the paperwork, read some of Claire Spottiswoode's revealing insights on her website www.policyholderadvocate.org and attended an Aviva Adviser roadshow. All of which was genuinely fascinating, but I'm left wondering just how many eligible policyholders will have opened their envelope, looked at the sheer volume of literature and put it in the "things to get round to soon" pile (like the one sprawling on the left of my home study desk!).

That's a real worry. Many people will have had experience of demutualisations where everyone gets a windfall whether they act or not, but that's not what happens here. For most policyholders it is in their interests to accept the reattribution offer but if they don't vote "yes" in time they will lose out. How many thousands of people will lose out because of information overload?

We've set up a new website at www.reattribution.com which takes policyholders through the key financial planning considerations step by step. We believe that most policyholders will be able to work their way through fairly quickly and make an informed decision whether to vote Yes or No. Depending on answers given, a few policyholders may need independent financial advice to make a truly informed decision but for most it's a fairly simple choice; take the money and then review whether to stay or go.