CLICO ‘stragglers’ in FSC’s hands

Three years after the court-approved company Resolution Life which was administering payments to thousands of CLICO International Life Insurance policyholders in Barbados came to an end, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn has revealed that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) which took over from the wound up company, is still to complete the work.

He made the announcement in Parliament on Tuesday while debating the Financial Services Commission (Amendment) Bill and the Financial Services Commission (Miscellaneous, Provision and Validation) Bill, which are designed to give greater certainty to the operations of the FSC.

“Now that ResLife has been wound up, the FSC has responsibility for anybody, who for whatever reason did not get their bonds issued in 2019. The FSC has the responsibility now for administering any of the persons who were the stragglers at that point,” said Straughn.

After coming to office in 2018, the Mia Mottley administration set up Resolution Life Assurance Company Limited (ResLife) to administer the payments owed to policyholders of the collapsed CLICO.

Policyholders and claimants were expected to benefit from a settlement package made up of $103 million in cash and $300 million in bonds. Eligible policyholders or claimants due less than $20,000 were to receive cash and the balance in 15-year bonds.

In early April 2019, ResLife informed its policyholders that it had ceased accepting premium payments from all classes of policyholders, and by the end of the month it ceased operation.

Last year, Straughn indicated that the FSC would continue to handle the work that was remaining after ResLife came to an end.

However, in Parliament on Tuesday, he reported that he has been getting “a few enquiries” in the last couple of weeks on the matter.

“I remind the public that any person who had a former CLICO policy, whatever the policy is, that you should make contact with the Financial Services Commission if you have not yet had your bonds issued in order to bring resolution to that matter,” he said.

“It took far too long, almost ten years before those people could get some measure of resolution. We came to office in some serious circumstances and we dealt with that matter,” he said.

He noted that the Mia Mottley administration was keen on ensuring that the financial sector remains strong and robust with strong regulation and oversight.

He said it was government’s intention to put regulations in place to encourage greater business growth on the island.

“It is critical that for an economy to be strong you need a strong financial sector, but you need a financial sector too that is linked very clearly to the real economy where people are selling real goods and providing services in order to make sure that we can build out the businesses as well as provide incomes that families in this country can support themselves,” said Straughn.