Equitable chiefs to stay put

Vanni Treves and Charles Thomson have the ‘unanimous support’ of the board,
Jean Wood, the head of Equitable Life’s remuneration committee told journalists
at a press conference following Equitable’s humiliating climbdown in its case
with Ernst & Young.

Equitable agreed to drop proceedings against the Big Four firm today, with
each side picking up its own costs.

The move has led some to question Treves’s and Thomson’s future at the
mutual, with Paul Braithwaite of the Equitable Members’ Action Group saying
their positions are now ‘untenable’.

Treves revealed that he had considered his position, and Wood later said that
discussion over their future had taken place since the case broke up for its
summer break in July.

The realisation then that directors’ evidence scuppered Equitable’s case
against E&Y prompted the mutual to rethink, it said.

‘At each stage of the decision-making it has been the total board that has
taken the decisions,’ said Treves.