In an email to advisers and staff, Gerry O’Brien, chief executive of Home of Choice, said that he and the board had believed negotiations would be finalised last week, but were “working around the clock” to complete the discussions and make sure staff and brokers are paid.

O’Brien said: “We understand your frustrations and share them. I cannot give you a definite day for payment into your account at this moment. All I can do, honestly, is say that we have been working hard for you to be paid with the minimum delay.”

Payments have been waylaid due to the fact that Home of Choice has been unable to process BACS payment files in the normal way since it was required to give a change of control notification to the FSA during negotiations. As a result, brokers and staff were not paid last Friday.

Due to the complexities of the deal, payments have continued to be delayed this week.