A soldier was denied endowment compensation by Abbey because the company said his occupation showed he was a risk-taker, and so would have been willing to accept a high level of investment risk.

In a letter rejecting his claim, Abbey said “You were in a risky occupation at the time and from this we have concluded the endowment policy was consistent with your attitude towards risk”.

Richard Howarth, who was a sergeant in the Adjutant General’s Corps and served in Bosnia and Northern Ireland, said that he was ’stunned and outraged’ by the decision which he labelled as insensitive.

After his case was taken up by the Sunday Telegraph, Abbey agreed that the case had been mishandled, and that it was ‘absolutely wrong’ to infer someone’s atitude to financial risk from their profession.

They also apologised to Mr Howarth and said that they would be settling his case.

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