Governance of With-Profits policies

Independent Governance of With-Profits policies

ReAssure have appointed a With-Profits Committee who are responsible for managing the with-profits funds and making sure that the interests of with-profits policyholders are appropriately considered.

What is the With-Profits Committee?

Our With-Profits Committee provides independent input to make sure the interests of ReAssure with-profits policyholders are protected. As well as the Committee, ReAssure’s With-Profits Actuary also has a responsibility to advise on the fair management of with-profits business.

The Committee discusses all relevant issues with the With-Profits Actuary. The Committee can take the Actuary’s advice and may take such external financial, accounting, actuarial, legal or other advice, as appropriate.

The Committee covers the ReAssure with-profits business and all other with-profits business of Phoenix Life Limited. The ReAssure with-profits business is in the Guardian Assurance With-Profits Fund, the LG With-Profits Fund, the National Mutual With-Profit Fund and the Windsor Life With-Profit Fund.

What does the With-Profits Committee do?

They give advice to ReAssure on the fair treatment of its with-profits policyholders and raise any issues that it feels ReAssure needs to consider. The committee meets at least four times a year and its duties cover the following:

Treating you fairly: ReAssure is responsible for the management of its with-profits business. The Committee reviews the decisions the company proposes to take to make sure they’re fair for all with-profits policyholders. If it feels they’re not, it will challenge ReAssure to justify them.
Your expectations: The Committee doesn’t deal with individual customer complaints or questions, but it regularly reviews information about with-profits complaints to make sure ReAssure is treating customers fairly. If the Committee thinks there are any issues that ReAssure should be doing more about, it will raise them on your behalf.
Speaking up for you: ReAssure explains how it manages its with-profits business in its with-profits guides. These are based on a more detailed document called the Principles and Practices of Financial Management (PPFM). The Committee checks that ReAssure is operating its business in the way described in the PPFM.
Making its views known: At its meetings, the Committee discusses its views and, where relevant, challenges the company’s proposed actions with relevant senior managers. The minutes of the meetings, setting out the Committee’s recommendations, are also sent to the Board of ReAssure, together with any additional reports from the Chairman of the Committee.

Annual reports to with-profits policyholders

Once a year, the Committee provides ReAssure with its opinion on how the company managed its with-profits business in the preceding year. The Committee considers in particular, the fairness of how with-profits policyholders have been treated and if the business has been managed in the way described in ReAssure PPFMs.

ReAssure takes the Committee’s views into account when it produces the company’s annual reports to UK with-profits policyholders. There is a separate report for each of ReAssure’s four with-profits funds.

As well as confirming the Committee’s opinion on how ReAssure has managed its with-profits business, the reports highlight any significant issues that the Committee has found. If the Committee ever feels it has concerns that should be communicated to policyholders with further information, it will do so in the report.

With-Profits Committee Terms of Reference

With-Profits Committee members

Mike Davies

Mike Davies is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries with over 35 years' experience in the Life Assurance industry. He joined the Committee as Chair on 1 April 2025.

Mike is a Non-Executive Director of Aegon UK (and chairs their With-Profit Forum), and Utmost Pan-Europe. He is a Member of the With-Profits Committee of Utmost Life and Pensions.

He was previously a partner at EY and led their European Actuarial business, providing consulting and audit services. His experience includes with-profits, transactions and capital management.

Margaret Snowdon OBE

Margaret Snowdon OBE is a pensions professional and experienced non-executive director. She is an Independent non-executive Director of XPS Pensions Group plc. She is an Adviser to the Board of Moneyhub Financial Technology Limited.

Margaret previously held partner and director level positions with leading pension companies and was an Independent Trustee of the Pension Superfund. She also served as a non-executive Director of the Pensions Regulator and was the last volunteer Chair of the Pensions Advisory Service.

Among her many voluntary roles within the pensions industry, Margaret is Chair of the Pension Scams Industry Group and was Chair of the Pensions Administration Standards Association until the end of 2018 when she became their first Honorary President. She is an Early Resolution Adviser with The Pensions Ombudsman.

She is Chair of the Retirement Income Taskforce and an Advisor to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud.

Margaret was appointed an OBE in 2010 and has received many awards for her contribution to Pensions.

Jenny Holt

Jenny has more than 20 years financial services experience across a number of roles. A qualified actuary, she started her career doing more traditional roles in finance but has spent the last 15 years in proposition roles and is passionate about developing commercially sustainable solutions that deliver improved outcomes for customers.

In her current role, her focus is on using data and insight to understand customer needs and behaviours, and using this to develop relevant and engaging journeys and experiences that support customers to and through retirement.

Jenny also sponsored the Phoenix Group consumer duty programme delivery for open products and services.

Martin Muir

Martin has spent his career in financial services, with more than 35 years in the insurance, banking and pensions industry. He is a qualified actuary who has particular expertise in complex capital, liquidity, reinsurance and financial risk matters gained through his executive career.

Martin has experience at director level from his time on Aviva’s pensions trustee board as well as from his time as an Executive Director of Aviva Group Holdings. Martin was also a Non-Executive Director of Aviva International Insurance and Aviva UK Equity Release. Prior to his appointment to Phoenix Group as a Non-Executive Director, Martin was Board Trustee and Defined Benefits Chair of Aviva Staff Pension Trustees.

Jeremy Nurse

Jeremy is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and has almost 40 years’ experience in the UK and European life assurance markets, both in consultancy and at senior roles within several insurance firms. He joined the Committee in September 2022 and is also a Trustee Director for the University of Brighton Academy Trust as well as for a charity that runs a Nursing Home in Sussex.

Jeremy has undertaken numerous regulated roles in the insurance industry, including as: Chief Actuary/Appointed Actuary at Rothesay Life for 10 years and at several other firms both in the UK and overseas; a director of UK/Irish subsidiaries for AIG and MetLife; the Independent Expert for a Part VII transfer of insurance business, and the Skilled Person for the Financial Conduct Authority in its Thematic Review of Annuity Sales Practices.

Caroline Rainbird

Caroline has over 35 years of international experience in financial services, with senior roles spanning regulatory affairs, strategy, operations, investment banking, and client services. She brings deep expertise in governance and leadership to her role on the Phoenix Group Life Companies’ With-Profits Committee.

She currently serves as a Non-Executive Director at Modulr, a leading embedded payments provider, and is a Trustee Board Member of the NatWest Group Pension Fund, one of the UK’s largest defined benefit schemes. Caroline was CEO of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme from 2019 to 2023, and previously held senior positions at RBS Plc and ABN AMRO.

Caroline began her career with HSBC and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan. She holds a BA (Joint Hons.) in History and Economic & Social History from the University of Kent. Outside of work, she enjoys sports with her family, travel, cooking, reading, and theatre.