Retail investors in insurer Aegon’s £2bn ($4bn, €2.7bn) Scottish Equitable property funds have been told it could take as much as a year to withdraw money after cash liquidity levels reached a critical point in the wake of the subprime crisis.

The insurer is the second to impose such restrictions on its retail funds. Friends Provident introduced similar measures shortly before Christmas, when 118,000 investors were told they might have to wait up to six months to see their cash.