Governments Accused Of Doing Their Own Thing With BAICO

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Business News

Thursday, 29 November 2012 02:30

By caribarena news

Antigua St. John's - President of the British American Insurance Policyholders Recovery Fund Organization (BAPRFO) Kevin Branker says what is happening with the recently announced ECCU Policyholders Relief Programme comes in uneven folds through a government-imposed policy that did not include any recommendations from his office.

Branker told Caribarena on Wednesday that what is happening at this time is that the governments of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) have opted to do everything by themselves, leaving out BAPRFO all together.

“We have no input,” he said. “I knew that the $100M would be approved but how it would be structured and how it would be used I didn’t know.”

The US$100 million in question is to be used to finance the repayment of annuities held by policyholders of the failed British American Insurance Company (BAICO) operations. St Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves announced the successful negotiation for the funds is in July.

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“We offered advice, which they (the governments) did not take and they are going on their own course. We suggested that there should be an equal payout, but it appears that they are taking it away from the judicial manager and saying that they will take the debt and handle it themselves,” Branker explained. He noted that such a move puts “everyone else” at a disadvantage and the majority of people will not be dealt with.

On Monday an announcement by the ECCU on the matter made it clear that this Phase of the Programme does not include either Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (“EFPA”) Policies or Flexible Premium Annuity II (“FPAII”) Policies. But assurance has been given that these will be covered in subsequent phases of the Programme.

Presently though, owners of FPA Policies issued in the ECCU will receive a payment equivalent to the amount of their policy balance as at August 1, 2009, plus the amount of any premiums that they have paid since that date.

Former FPA Policy Owners who never received payment for an FPA Policy that matured or was surrendered before August 1, 2009, will receive the amount of that surrender/maturity payment.

However, there is a catch, and as a condition of the payment being made “owners must sign an Application and Release Form in which they give up all of their rights against BAICO and other specified persons in respect of the FPA Policy.”

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