Weinberg lifeline for AIG collapse victims
Sir Mark Weinberg's St James's Place group, which invests cash on behalf of some of Britain's wealthiest people, today offered a support package to those who have lost heavily from the collapse of US insurance giant AIG.
Helping hand: Sir Mark, pictured with Lady Weinberg, has put up a £6.9m payment
Several St James's Place clients invested millions of pounds in funds related to AIG bonds, which collapsed in value in September as investors stampeded amid fears for AIG.
At the heart of the crisis for Britain's investors was the Enhanced Fund of AIG life UK's Premier Access Bond or Premier Bond products.
Because of the huge amount of redemptions from investors, AIG stopped customers pulling out their cash for three months to manage a more orderly exit.
Investors can get back half their investment now but the rest must be locked up for more than three years if they want to reclaim it without further losses.
If they cash in now, they could lose up to 12.2% of their money.
Victims of the collapse include Top gear presenter Jeremy Clar
Today, the wealth manager has offered to make a one-off goodwill payment to clients totalling £6.9m, and has arranged a loan facility for those who desperately need cash but are unable to access it from the AIG investment.
Bank of Scotland Private Banking is providing the loan facility, secured against the clients' AIG assets.
St James's Place's special measures come as the wealth management divisions of Barclays Wealth, HSBC, Coutts and UBS have been threatened with legal action by clients claiming they were mis-sold into the fund.
The £6bn AIG fund was marketed as a 'low-risk alternative to an instant access deposit account'.
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