In the presence of the economic climate, firms across different sectors have made efforts to soften the blows that they are facing. However the effects or the recession are still causing major upset in the ways companies are operating.

The life insurance provider, Standard Life, has prevented investors, from taking finances, away from its property funds. This means that investors will have less chances of being able to get finances, form the company, in such forms as dividends and claims.

A life insurance industry figure commented, by saying: "It is the same old story – as soon as the market gets a bit tough, insurance companies cut bonuses for their policyholders. The underlying principle behind with-profits is that firms keep something back when the times are good so that they can maintain the bonus rates for their customers when things aren't going so well.

"The type of people who go for with-profits funds are generally fairly cautious, which means they are not looking for massive returns, usually just for the maturity value to be enough to pay off their mortgage, but it seems that the way these with-profits funds are being managed doesn't tie up with what investors thought they were signing up for."

A spokesperson for Standard Life said: “The credit crunch has resulted in considerably fewer buyers of commercial property, which in turn has led to increasing pressure on property fund managers to accept lower prices when selling properties and to properties taking longer to sell.”