CLICO under Supervisor of Insurance control

In other news, at least ten Heads of CARICOM, including Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad have arrived in Belize for the twentieth Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government. The summit opens tomorrow and top on the agenda is the economic and financial crisis that is impacting the economies of the region. Earlier it was reported that the fallout from the collapse of the regional Colonial Life Insurance Company continues. Latest reports are that CLICO’s operations in the Turks and Caicos has been forced to close and clients are demanding two point six million dollars in claims. Meanwhile, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority has ordered the company to cease issuing new policies with investment components and desist from accepting new premiums on existing policies with investment features. CLICO is under government management in Bahamas, Guyana, and as of the end of February, in Belize. Supervisor of Insurance in Belize, Alma Gomez, has placed restrictions on the local branch of the company to protect the interests of local policyholders. The measures include: refraining the company from issuing any new insurance contracts; refraining it from varying any existing contract; or from repatriating any funds out of the country. Lastly, CLICO is also not to dispose of any of its assets without Gomez’s written consent. The Supervisor of Insurance has also secured the assets of the company and is in full control of the statutory reserves of CLICO and assured Belizeans that their interests are being protected and states that the company is allowed to continue serving existing insurance contracts that were in effect before February twenty-fifth, 2009. Policyholders are also advised to continue paying their premiums in order to keep them active. A meeting was set to take place between Gomez and the appointed liquidator last week, but when we tried to get an update, we were told she would not be in office until next week.