Reading through the above, I think the key principle is that by...

Reading through the above, I think the key principle is that by consolidating an insurance business + a traditional bank business into one set of financial statements, the composition of VUK competitors' "equity" - as it is presented on their balance sheet - is [banking equity + equity of another type of business].

Ie it is simply a matter of the denominator being distorted by a totally separate set of operations - this would occur if you stapled the net assets (equity) of any other type of business onto the financial accounts of a traditional stand alone bank business. I suspect the "true" equity/net asset split between the insurance businesses & traditional banking businesses would be damn near impossible to work out (unless directly disclosed).