Judgment has still not been handed down in a class action against two insurance giants - almost 18 months after closing submissions were heard.

A seven-week civil case, involving a £100m compensation battle against island-based Friends Provident International and Utmost International Isle of Man, got under way at Douglas High Court on April 6 last year.

No fewer than 739 investors, many who lost their life savings, have taken part in the class action.

Yet 18 months on from closing submissions have been heard, Deemster Corbett KC has yet to hand down judgment.

It is understood that judicial complaints over the delay has been filed by both the plaintiffs and the defendants.

Another, even bigger, class action against the same defendants is not expected to take place now until 2027.

Parties to the first case have been informed that Deemster Corbett KC continues to work on the judgment and a decision will not now be issued before December 1 at the earliest.

They been told that the acting Deemster is keen to ensure a realistic, rather than optimistic, time scale is set.

A courts spokesperson said: ‘Parties have been kept regularly updated on progress. In terms of what happens next, that will depend in large part in what the judgment says.

‘There is a separate class action currently live before the courts but that is not contingent on what happens in this case and is not due to come to trial until the spring of 2027 at the earliest.’

Claimants, mainly British nationals and expats based across the world, say they were sold life assurance products which they were told were safe and low risk - but were based on investment funds which ultimately collapsed.

They argue that the companies misrepresented the products, and that they failed to carry out ‘some minimum standard of due diligence review’ on the underlying funds.

FPI and Utmost contest the claims.

The court heard that the litigation centres on ‘wrappers’ offered by FPI and Utmost to retail investors, by which they could allocate their invested funds into underlying funds not operated by FPI or Utmost.

Products were marketed through independent financial advisers and intermediaries not employed by either FPI or Utmost.

It is alleged the marketing was undertaken on the basis of documentation and information from FPI/ Utmost which was passed on directly to potential customers.

But in a closing submission, barrister for FPI Jonathan Nash KC said the documents received by the test claimants had gone through the ‘mediation of experienced independent financial advisers’ and it was they who would carry out asset vetting and selection for their clients - not the insurance company.

This case will be dwarfed by a second class action against Utmost International Isle of Man Ltd and Friends Provident International Ltd.

This involves some 1,600 claimants who have lodged claims totalling more than £270m.

Deemster Alan Gough said in a judgment relating to the £270m class action: ‘Undoubtedly this case is going to be one of the most costly ever before the Isle of Man courts, if not the most costly.’