The Tribune

The Government has pledged to make a public statement on its long-awaited CLICO (Bahamas) resolution by year-end, but one creditor yesterday said he “doesn’t expect a cheque will come” by Christmas.

Basil Christie, a member of the insolvent insurer’s creditors committee, told Tribune Business that a government official promised an announcement would be made at its meeting last week.

However, he added that no payment would be immediately forthcoming to CLICO (Bahamas) creditors and annuity holders - only the promise that the Government will finally do something.

And Mr Christie expressed scepticism that there would be any substance to the Government’s promises, saying this was the third year it had pledged to do something - having failed to follow through the previous two times.

He implied that the Government needed to “say something” to relieve the mounting pressure over its prolonged inaction, and admitted he was “not very hopeful” about receiving financial compensation.

Mr Christie confirmed that the announcement was promised by an official attending the creditors committee meeting on behalf of the Ministry of Finance’s deputy financial secretary, Simon Wilson.

“The report was that the Government intends, by December 31, to confirm or make a commitment to the creditors who lost significant amounts of money with the liquidation of CLICO,” Mr Christie told Tribune Business.

“This is the third year where they’ve said they will make some kind of move by the end of the year. They’re going to make a confirmation, but will not make any payments. The eventual payments will be in cash and government paper. That’s as much as the report commits to.”

Tribune Business previously revealed that the Government’s plans to compensate CLICO (Bahamas) long-suffering creditors, who have been waiting almost seven years to access their life savings and long-term investments, fall into two categories.

Rather than the initial $30 million guarantee promised by the former Ingraham administration, the current Government is dividing the insolvent insurer’s clients into annuity holders and insurance policyholders.

The last proposal, presented in late June 2015, is to pay out annuity holders with products worth less than $10,000 or less. Those holding annuities worth $10,000 or more will get that sum up front and be paid the rest in Government bonds with a seven-year maturity.

Former CLICO (Bahamas) employees will also be paid the severance pay due to them, while insurance policyholders will be transferred either to a new underwriter or special purpose vehicle (SPV) created by the Government.

Mr Christie’s comments confirm that this framework is still the Government’s preferred option. Tribune Business, though, understands that the cost of compensating CLICO (Bahamas) creditors and underwriting the transfer of insurance policies to a new carrier has increased from the original $30 million to nearly $50 million.

The Government, given its stretched fiscal position, is understood to be especially concerned at the size of this potential outlay, and whether it will be able to recover any of this sum.

However, this newspaper understands that the Government could be at least partially compensated via some of the $30 million recovered from liquidating the Florida-based Wellington Preserve project, which represents CLICO (Bahamas) main asset.

Mr Christie said the creditors committee was told of “a pending purchaser” for CLICO (Bahamas) life and health insurance policy portfolio, “but the terms still have to be worked out” and the prospective buyer was not identified.

Time is running out for both the Government’s promised resolution and any buyer, as the insolvent insurer’s liquidator has warned he has no choice but to cancel all medical insurance policies by New Year’s Eve if nothing has been put in place.

Craig A. ‘Tony’ Gomez, the Baker Tilly Gomez accountant and partner, has warned it is simply unsustainable to maintain the health coverage for hundreds of policyholders because payouts exceeded annual premium income.

This, Mr Gomez said previously, was steadily eroding the $11.607 million that CLICO (Bahamas) held in its bank accounts at year-end 2014, thereby undermining his court-ordered mandate to preserve the insurer’s assets for the benefits of creditors.

Mr Christie, though, expressed scepticism that the Government will deliver, even if it makes the promised public commitment.

“We’re no further ahead other than a promise,” he told Tribune Business. “I don’t know if the Government has any realistic amount of funds to assist us, but it was necessary to say something.

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s another statement but I don’t have any real hope. I’m not very hopeful.

“I am aware that the agenda for the Cabinet is quite extensive, and that gives me reason to expect that not much will be done,” Mr Christie continued.

“The most they can say at this point is that the Government agrees to do something. That’s as much as I expect. But the notification that a cheque is coming; I don’t expect that at all.”

Many would argue that the Government has an obligation to step in assist CLICO (Bahamas) policyholders and creditors because the insurer’s road to collapse was aided, in large part, by supervisory and oversight failures on the part of insurance and financial industry regulators.