How ex-Equitable bosses cashed in

NINE of Equitable Life's former non-executive directors collected £2m in fees while the insurer hurtled towards collapse.

And while they served on Equitable's board in the crisis period of the late Nineties, they held more than 200 directorships with other companies.

The nine last week asked the High Court to throw out a £3.2bn negligence claim brought against them by Equitable's new board.

They argued that their personal bankruptcies would not help thems of policyholders who lost out in the debacle. A judgment is expected this week.

Meanwhile, a clearer picture is emerging of how these eight men and one woman - Jennie Page, best known for her spell as chief executive of New Millennium Experience, the company that ran the Dome - benefited financially from Equitable. John Sclater, president from 1994 until his resignation in February 2001, was paid £299,200 from 1995 to 2001.

Figures for previous years are not publicly available, but Sclater's total earnings since joining Equitable's board in 1985 are thought to have approached £500,000.

Peter Martin was paid £293,300 between 1995 and 2001, plus an estimated £130,000 in the previous 11 years. Alan Tritton, a board member from 1976 to 1999, received £258,800 in his last five years.

The six others took between £100,000 and £200,000 in the 1995 to 2001 period, on top of hundreds of thousands of pounds for earlier years. Several of the directors claimed last week they had voiced concern as the Equitable crisis grew. But Martin and others accepted double-digit fee increases each year between 1997 and 2000.

In 1999, Sclater, writing in the company accounts, acknowledged the society's fate depended on a crucial Law Lords' ruling, which was ultimately to bring the society to its knees. But his pay rose 15% in 1999 to £65,070 in 2000. In that same year, Sclater, 63, was also paid £57,000 from his chairmanship of the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust.

Companies House records show he held more than 40 separate boardroom appointments during his spell at Equitable. The number has dwindled to 13.