Troubled British mutual insurer Equitable Life has reached a settlement with the nine former directors it was still pursuing for compensation.
The move brings to a close the society's legal action which it had originally hoped would gain £4.3 billion for policyholders.
In September it dropped its claim against former auditor Ernst & Young, with each side paying its own costs. Since then it has also settled with six of the 15 former directors on the same terms.
But unlike the previous settlements, the society said today that it had agreed to pay a proportion of the nine remaining directors' costs.
It is contributing £10m towards these, putting its total legal bill for the failed action at £45m, although the society has already reserved £10m towards this.
Equitable chairman Vanni Treves said it was 'deeply frustrating and disappointing' not to be able to win redress for policyholders, particularly as the Penrose report into what had gone wrong at the society said Equitable had been 'the author of its own misfortune'.
But he said it was a different matter to satisfy a court that the role of the former directors constituted a responsibility that would lead in law to culpability and redress.
