Standard Life sounds probe alarm

MOVES by City regulators to send a team of independent experts into Standard Life to probe its figures are ' cataclysmic', according to a leading insurance expert.

Ned Cazalet, who predicted the Equitable Life disaster and is a longstanding critic of Standard Life, said the investigation 'is no routine review. People are coming in with their hobnailed boots on'.

The Financial Services Authority is commissioning a review by independent experts to find out why Stan-dard's recent calculation of its liabilities diverges from earlier ones.

Standard downplayed the probe's significance. But insurance industry sources said it showed the insurer was unable to prepare numbers to the regulator's satisfaction.

Fears over Standard's solvency emerged following a row with the regulator over new accounting methods that looked set to devastate its balance sheet.