CLICO sorry
By by WADE GIBBONS | Wed, June 23, 2010 - 12:00 AM
CLICO International Life Insurance (CIL) has been issuing letters of apology to policyholders for the inability to honour its financial obligations.
The correspondence blamed the company’s liquidity problems on the near collapse of its Trinidad and Tobago-based parent company, CL Financial, as well as policyholders withdrawing their investments.
The company informed policyholders that it was working with the assistance of a consulting actuary and accounting firm Ernst & Young to develop a proposal on the options available to settle its obligations.
Ernst & Young is also preparing a report to illustrate how Government can provide temporary liquidity support.
The company’s liquidity headache is exacerbated by a massive multi-million-dollar deficit in its statutory fund, as well as an imminent $300 million demand on the Executive Flexible Premium Annuities.
CIL, a subsidiary of CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited (CHBL), said it expected to have the final Ernst & Young report and a response from Government on the extent of its involvement “within the next few weeks”.
“At this time, we will be in a position to definitively outline the course of action to policyholders on how our obligations to them can be settled,” the letter said.
An Oversight Committee was established through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Government and CLICO early last year to, among other things, attract a buyer for CIL. But due to the company’s liquidity problems those efforts have failed thus far.
Last March, committee chairman William Layne said that if they failed to find a buyer for CIL by 2012, CLICO assets would have to be sold. That committee officially ended its assignment on June 12.
Recently, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley called for an urgent Government response in the face of the end of the committee’s tenure.
She queried what steps Government would take to ensure that no further money was extracted from the company by any CLICO executive in the absence of the Oversight Committee.
CHBL’s executive chairman Leroy Parris has been the subject of recent public calls to return all monies paid to him by CIL and CLICO Mortgage & Financial Corporation, in the face of other policyholders and investors not being able to obtain theirs.
These demands have echoed those directed at CL Financial where a former corporate secretary, Gita Sakal, was made to return US$5 million paid to her by CLICO Energy Co Ltd.
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Fellow Barbadians, CLICO International Life Insurance Company has a duty to its many policy holders to ensure that it makes available to its clients the monies that are due and owing to its EFPA members. The Company is under a contractual arrangement to provide its clients with their funds plus interest as agreed. The company has several assets so let the games begin with the selling off of the assets to meet the demands of clients who put their hard earned money with the company based on the offerings made to the public. The other persons who have been investing in the CLICO pension plans need to feel comfortable that when the time comes for them to benefit from investing in the pension scheme that funds are available. The time to act is now to protect the interest of ordinary Barbadians.
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Comment LinkOver a year and a half ago the Gov’t was told to put this company under Judicial Management. I hope those of us who still cannot get our funds out are able to do so.
We know of one man who was able to get his money out. Who is going to spin these records now?
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Comment LinkI hope that Barbadians who have invested any sort of money in Clico get a backbone and do something about this.
Government and Clico executives alike, at the beginning of this fiasco, blatantly lied to Barbadians in the media about this. They stated that what was happening with the parent company does not affect the Barbados subsidaries in any way. How could it not when they are subsidaries and not franchises. They are in no way separate from the parent company. The since of the father unto to generations.
Every conceivable lie has been fed to Barbadians on this matter. Do these people not matter? After all is it not their hard earned monies that is making the executive staff of Clico rich and apparently untouchable.
These people should be held legally accountable and should be made to face fraud charges, because what they committed was nothing but plain and simple FRAUD.
This is just as bad as the Enron issue.
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Comment LinkWhile most of us may feel we know a little about what should be done in this case, very seldom we understand the contracts we enter into.
If there’s no evidence to prove we were misled when signing a contract, what course of action can be taken to remedy a loss due to bankruptcy of this agency.
It’s true that for a financial corporation of this size, a fund should have been set aside to meet short term obligations.
Until the facts of this case is known I’m afraid pensions and individual policies that have matured may be deemed to be irrecoverable.
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Comment LinkI have always heard in the short years that i have been here on earth that you should heed the message and not shoot the messenger. Persons were reassured that all was well and there was nothing to fear .I am certain persons who knew better to believe those [statements] and who have lots of clout made early withdrawals .Policy holders need to force Governments hand on this issue before we see another Trade Confirmers. It is sad when you get all this buttered talked and promises from these suave agents only for persons to have to worry about their hard earned money .
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