The savers, who invested their money with CGU Life before the company was taken over by Hibernian, will be warned over the coming weeks that they could be walking away from a cash handout should they decide to cash in their policies early. The bad news is that they may have to hang on until 2008 to qualify for the windfalls.

News of the surprise payments comes as 94,000 Irish people who have withprofits policies from Standard Life prepare to get their hands on free shares when the insurance company floats on the London stock market one week from tomorrow. The free shares are expected to be worth between 664 and 1,319 per member.

In letters sent to financial advisers last week, Hibernian said the expected windfalls stem from the distribution of socalled orphan assets, basically money built up in the with-profits fund over the years that had not been earmarked for a specific purpose.

It is not yet known exactly which policies will qualify for the windfalls or the sums involved. However, the letter from Hibernian warned that they might not be enough to compensate for any falls in the value of policies between now and the time the windfalls are eventually paid.