Two FTSE 100 insurers, a prime pension scheme and different firms give up the CBI on Friday after the employers’ organisation was rocked by a second allegation of rape, casting its future into doubt.

The insurers Aviva and Phoenix and the £20bn pension scheme the Individuals’s Partnership mentioned they have been cancelling their memberships after the most recent allegations have been revealed by the Guardian.

The newspaper reported {that a} girl alleged she was raped whereas working for the CBI. She was the second girl to make an accusation of rape involving the CBI.

“In mild of the very severe allegations made, and the CBI’s dealing with of the method and response, we consider the CBI is now not in a position to fulfil its core perform — to be a consultant voice of enterprise within the UK,” Aviva mentioned. “We’ve due to this fact regrettably terminated our membership with speedy impact.”

The Individuals’s Partnership, which has 6mn members, mentioned: “Following the very severe allegations made, now we have made the choice that we will now not stay members of the CBI.”

Vitality, a smaller UK well being insurer, additionally give up, as did chip mental property designer Creativeness Applied sciences.

“We don’t consider that they’ve the credibility to symbolize enterprise at this level,” Neville Koopowitz, Vitality chief govt, mentioned. One individual near Creativeness Applied sciences mentioned the current allegations “tipped the steadiness” in favour of quitting, however the unique driver had been a scarcity of worth for cash.

The Affiliation of British Insurers, the commerce physique for the UK insurance coverage trade, mentioned it was withdrawing its CBI membership.

“It has turn out to be untenable to retain our membership in mild of additional severe allegations and [we] have knowledgeable the CBI of our determination to go away with speedy impact,” the ABI mentioned.

Suffolk-based brewer Adnams, which has about 600 staff, mentioned it had determined to give up the CBI after the most recent sexual misconduct claims.

“I’ve informed the CBI that we’re formally going to jot down to them and withdraw from the organisation,” mentioned Andy Wooden, Adnams’ chief govt.

In an extra blow, Asda mentioned it had paused all engagements with the CBI, whereas Shell had already suspended its actions with the group per week in the past, in accordance with an individual acquainted with the matter. A senior govt at one of many FTSE’s largest 20 firms mentioned it might cease paying its membership dues.

Ann Francke, chief govt of the Chartered Administration Institute, knowledgeable physique that encourages higher administration practices, mentioned the sample of allegations and management failures now left the CBI going through an “completely existential disaster”.

The brand new rape allegation, which the CBI has now handed to the police, is the most recent in a collection of claims concerning the office tradition, together with sexual harassment, drug-taking and bullying which have rocked the UK employers’ organisation in current weeks.

The CBI mentioned on Thursday that it had been handed details about a severe crime and was now “liaising carefully” with the police.

The Guardian reported the brand new case of rape had taken place at one of many CBI’s abroad workplaces, however declined to specify the date of the incident or the nation the place it passed off so as to shield the alleged sufferer’s identification.

The Metropolis of London Police is already investigating an allegation of rape at a 2019 CBI employees celebration on a ship on the river Thames, alongside a collection of different allegations of misconduct made by a dozen individuals who have labored on the organisation.

Fox Williams, the regulation agency, is conducting an impartial investigation into these allegations on the request of the CBI, which has led to the suspension of three employees. The CBI has mentioned it expects to publish the conclusions from the inquiry early subsequent week.

Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds Banking Group, TSB, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Macquarie Group and the Financial institution of Eire have paused actions with the CBI pending the result of the investigation.

Individually, the CBI sacked its former director-general Tony Danker this month for earlier office misconduct. Danker mentioned this week that he had been made the “fall man” for the way more severe allegations.

The Guardian report included graphic particulars of the second alleged rape, which the lady mentioned passed off by the hands of two males after an evening of heavy consuming.

The girl mentioned she had no recollection of the rape itself, however had described intimately the bodily indicators that led her to consider she was raped and was later introduced within the workplace with an specific {photograph} associated to the incident.

The girl informed the Guardian that she blamed the CBI for permitting an environment to be created by which such incidents might happen, and for failing to offer sufficient human sources assist.

CBI president Brian McBride mentioned the allegations reported within the Guardian have been “abhorrent” and that the CBI had not been beforehand conscious of them. “It’s vital that they’re completely investigated now and we’re liaising carefully with the police to assist guarantee any perpetrators are delivered to justice,” he added.

The Guardian additionally reported a 2018 case by which a feminine worker was stalked by a male colleague. An inner CBI investigation made a discovering of harassment, however the incident was not taken to the police.

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, who was director-general of the CBI on the time, informed the Guardian she was not made conscious of the criticism, describing the choice to not convey it to her consideration as “appalling”.

Further reporting by Judith Evans, David Sheppard, Laura Onita, Owen Walker, Anna Gross and Oliver Barnes