It will take months for the full story of Independent Insurance to become public knowledge. Here, Insurance Times poses the 12 key questions:

  • More than seven million shares (worth more than £21m) were sold in the two days before the profits warning in February. Who sold these shares – and was the timing a coincidence or insider dealing?

  • How large is Michael Bright's pension fund, where is it and should it count as an asset which liquidators can recover? Much will depend on when Bright realised the firm was in trouble. Contributions paid after any such realisation may be recoverable.

  • What commission, if any, was paid on the reinsurance contracts and where was it paid? Commission on a deal this size could amount to millions of pounds. Potentially, a sum of this size remains to be accounted for.

  • If there was fraud, how many people were involved? Fraud has not been proved, but if it did exist, it is unlikely to have been carried out by someone acting alone.

  • Why did Independent carry on recruit-ing staff until the last minute?

  • Did the directors not foresee the collapse, or did they continue recruiting for cosmetic reasons? Recently employed staff may have a personal claim against the directors.

  • Why did the Independent directors allow employees to buy shares in the company when a share scheme matured on June 1, a week after actuaries Watson Wyatt sent a warning letter to directors about unquantifiable liabilities for claims?

  • Did the directors allow the company to continue trading when they knew or ought to have known that Independent was insolvent?

  • When exactly did Michael Bright secure the £4m HSBC loan on his shareholding?

  • Was the internal auditor, Robin Sibthorpe, blocked from conducting an audit of the claims function from November 2000 until February 2001? If yes, who blocked him, what was his reporting line within the company and why didn't ordinary corporate governance remedy the situation within days, rather than leaving it undiscovered for three months?

  • What warning signals were available to be discovered by auditors KPMG?

  • Why didn't the preparation for a rights issue reveal that Independent was in trouble? Attempts to secure extra capital through a rights issue were being actively pursued until late May. To prepare for a rights issue, Independent would have gone through a due diligence process – in effect, an investigation into the financial strength of the company. This process would have involved a bank, an accountant and a lawyer. Who were these professional advisors, how much were they paid, why did they not discover the financial weakness of Independent, what did they tell the directors; were the directors told anything that should have made them stop trading?

  • Was any improper pressure put on loss adjusters or claims handlers by Independent?

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