Aviva has been neither open nor transparent about the true size of the threat to their French business merely stating they believe they remain 'appropriately provisioned' despite losing several court cases against the George family since last August including a French Supreme Court ruling which forces the company to recognise the George Cours Connu contracts.
Either the company believes the number of outstanding Cours Connu policies is small in number – in which case it has nothing to hide and should give the number to the market – or that the number of policies is worryingly large – in which case the company has a duty to inform the market.
Mr George attended the Annual General Meeting last month on John McFarlane, the previous Aviva Chairman's suggestion during the March meeting to approve the take over of Friend's Life.
At the AGM attendees were surprised that Mr McFarlane, now the Chairman of Barclays plc, chose to respond to Mr George and other shareholders in the way he did; but of greater concern was that Mr McFarlane avoided answering straightforward questions from shareholders to which he said knew the answers but was withholding the information.
The four vital questions which investors need to know the answers to are:
-
How many Cours Connu contracts issued by Aviva are still in existence?
-
How many Euros has Aviva put into its reserves against these Cours Connu contracts?
-
How many senior Aviva France employees had these Cours Connu contracts and what did Aviva pay to settle their contracts?
-
What contingencies has the company in place should Aviva France lose the management contract for the 700,000 L’AFER policies following regulatory fears about the lack of transparency and proper provisioning surrounding the Cours Connu?
|
