Insurance company Aegon has told investors in its Scottish Equitable property fund that it could take as much as a year to withdraw money because of critical liquidity levels in the wake of the sub-prime crisis, the Financial Times reports on Friday.

However the problem will not affect Aegon’s results, a spokesman told the Volkskrant. ‘This is not on our balance sheet. It is an investment fund that just carries our name,’ the spokesman told the paper.