SSIA holders may not be hit as badly as thought by fall in share values

More than 300,000 SSIA account holders opted for investment rather than interest-bearing deposit accounts when opening the accounts into which the Government is committed to paying 1 for every 4 saved.

A study published yesterday by Dublin-based independent actuarial consultants Life Strategies questions the conventional wisdom that SSIA equity investors will suffer significantly because of the decline in Stock Markets this year. Life Strategies director Dermot Corry said: “Our analysis suggests that the situation is not as bleak as some recent reports suggested and, in fact, there may be some good news for these investors.”

Mr Corry said many equity-based SSIA products were sold based on a standard industry projected