Equitable Life settles with-profit annuity dispute

LONDON (Reuters) - Insurer Equitable Life has reached a settlement with 407 with-profits annuity holders, law firm Clarke Willmott said on Thursday, though details of the settlement remained confidential.

"The claims were exceptionally complex and involved a detailed analysis of a very intricate financial product and the regulatory process," Clarke Willmott partner Robert Morfee said in a statement.

The claimants brought proceedings in 2004, alleging that they had been mis-sold their annuities by Equitable Life, Britain's oldest mutual insurer, between 1990 and 2000.

They had complained that the complexities of the product and its risks were not explained to them.

Its with-profits annuity is an investment-linked annuity and Equitable Life, which closed to new business after it almost collapsed in 2000, recently agreed to transfer these contracts to Prudential (PRU.L: Quote, Profile, Research).

The claimants have an average age of 74 and some died during the course of the proceedings.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by David Holmes)