The Equitable Life Assurance Society (Equitable Life), founded 1762, is a life insurance company in the United Kingdom. It almost collapsed in 2000 and had to cut the pensions and retirement savings of its policyholders to remain afloat, causing a large public outcry. The UK government's Treasury commissioned Lord Penrose to lead an inquiry into Equitable Life, which took two and a half years to complete. His 818-page report, published on 8 March 2004, found that the company had made over-generous payouts to policyholders and was therefore the "author of its own misfortunes".