We received approval for our proposals from the High Court and the Court of Session. The transfer of policies will take place on 27 October 2023.

Introduction

We’ve received approval for our proposals from the High Court of England and Wales (the High Court) and the Scottish Court of Session.

We explain more about the role of the courts here and why the Scottish Court was involved.

We also received approval from the courts in Jersey and Guernsey to transfer policies which are part of the business carried on in or from within Jersey, or that have been issued to customers resident in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. We have more information here about these court processes too.

The High Court process

To carry out the transfer, we applied for approval from the High Court. We asked the High Court to approve this transfer, and to approve the replacement of a number of previous Phoenix and PLAL transfer schemes.

The High Court needed to be satisfied, having considered the views of the Independent Expert, that all the necessary legal requirements had been met and that the proposals had no material adverse effect on policyholders.

Anyone who felt they may be adversely affected by the transfer had the right to raise an objection. All objections were submitted to the High Court to take into consideration when reaching its decision.

 

The Court of Session process

We received approval from the Court of Session to changes to three existing Schemes, listed below:

  • The 2006 Scheme, which transferred The Standard Life Assurance Company’s business to SLAL in July 2006. We propose to replace the 2006 Scheme with this Scheme.
  • The 2011 Scheme, which transferred the business of Standard Life Investment Funds Limited to SLAL in December 2011. We propose to replace the 2011 Scheme with this Scheme.
  • The 2019 Scheme, which transferred SLAL’s European business to Standard Life International DAC in March 2019. The 2019 Scheme will continue after the transfer of SLAL’s business to Phoenix but with SLAL’s role replaced by Phoenix.

Why is the Court of Session involved?

The policies of SLAL are covered by three previous transfer schemes which were approved by the Court of Session and allow for changes to be made to them with the Court’s approval. We therefore needed the Court of Session to approve changes to the existing Schemes before the transfer to Phoenix can take place.

Final Court Hearings

The High Court hearing

The hearing took place on 5 October 2023 at:
The High Court of Justice of England and Wales, The Rolls Building, Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1NL

The Court of Session hearing

The hearing took place on 3 October 2023 at:
The Court of Session, Parliament House, Parliament Square, Edinburgh, EH1 1RQ

We received approval from both courts and so the transfer will take place on 27 October 2023.

The Jersey and Guernsey court process

There were additional Schemes and court hearings for transferring policies which are part of the business carried on in or from within Jersey (The Jersey Scheme), or that have been issued to customers resident in the Bailiwick of Guernsey (The Guernsey Scheme).

The different court processes are explained below.

The Royal Court of Jersey

The Royal Court of Jersey needed to be satisfied, having considered the views of the Independent Expert, that the proposals met all the necessary legal requirements and had no material adverse effect on policyholders.

The hearing at the Royal Court of Jersey took place on 17 October 2023 at the Royal Court of Jersey, Royal Court House, Royal Square, St Helier, Jersey JE1 1BA.

The Royal Court of Guernsey

The Royal Court of Guernsey needed to be satisfied, having considered the views of the Independent Expert, that the proposals met all the necessary legal requirements and had no material adverse effect on policyholders.

The hearing at the Royal Court of Guernsey took place on 20 October 2023 at the Royal Court of Guernsey, the Royal Court House, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 2NZ.

We received approval from both courts and so the transfer of policies will take place on 27 October 2023.