(Trinidad Guardian) An actuarial certificate signed by Paul Ngai of Prescience Insurance Consultants and Actuaries, dated April 20, says he was advised by the management of Clico that the assets pledged to the Statutory Fund total more than TT$22 billion.
Ngai found there were sufficient assets in the fund to make a partial payment in the settlement of certain policyholder liabilities.
This information was received by the Clico Policyholders Group (CPG) over the weekend and mere days before the 2016 budget presentation.
Ngai stated he examined the financial position and valued the policy benefit liabilities of the company for its Statutory Fund as at December 31, 2014.
The total in the fund is TT$22,428,457,543.00
In the document, headlined Actuarial Certifica-tion pursuant to the Insurance Act of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Ngai wrote, “I meet the appropriate qualification standards and am familiar with the valuation and capital adequacy requirements applicable to life insurance companies in Trinidad and Tobago.”
In Ngai’s opinion and based on unaudited financial and source data information provided to him by the management of Clico, he found that:
- The valuation of the policy liabilities has been in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles with such changes as determined and directions made by the Draft Insurance (Caribbean Policy Premium Method) Regulations;
- The methods and assumptions used to calculate the policy liabilities are appropriate to the circumstances of the Statutory Fund and of the said policies and claims;
- The amount of policy liabilities that makes proper provision for the future payments under the Company’s policies is less than the total amount of the Statutory Fund; and
- As a result, there are adequate assets in Clico’s Statutory Fund to fund a partial payment in the settlement of certain policyholder liabilities, backed by said Statutory Fund, to be made in accordance with the Directions of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.”
John: I cannot go on record
Contacted on Saturday, Clico’s terminated managing director Carolyn John said she could not comment since it would be a breach of confidentiality.
“I cannot go on record.”
Permell: When will $$ be paid?
CPG chairman, Peter Permell, on Saturday said the group was not at all surprised by this revelation as it was consistent with what sources had been saying. However, he said, the big question was when would the payment be made.
Permell said, “The only thing we were not quite clear on was the actual size of the fund in terms of dollar value or the specific assets pledged. In short, these numbers clearly indicate that Clico now
has sufficient assets to pay its contractual liabilities
in full, relative to its Statutory Fund.”
He explained that from the TT$22.4 billion, TT$8 billion had to be deducted, which was previously paid to the Government and the “non-assenting” policyholders representing 85 per cent of contractual liabilities.
“This leaves a balance of TT$14.4 billion to cover TT$9 billion of traditional policyholders’ liabilities, TT$1.4 billion to pay the Government and non-assenting the remaining 15 per cent; and the ‘assenting’ policyholders the balance contractually due to them,” he added.
He believed the information would be helpful to new Finance Minister Colm Imbert in getting a better appreciation of the “true facts” relative to the Clico Resolution Plan, particularly in light of his predecessor Larry Howai’s apparent challenges in obtaining information from Clico and the Central Bank. The CPG is now calling for an urgent meeting with the new Finance Minister.
Permell referred to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s statement in the run up to the general election that, “We of the PNM, have no record of turning our backs on a government commitment made by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and when this Government has made that commitment we will pay you the money.”
The CPG chairman said this was equally applicable to Clico policyholders and as Prime Minister, so far, Rowley had not done anything to suggest that he was not a man of his word.
Permell said, “It is now a matter of history that the PNM lost the 2010 general election and was unable to make good on its promise.
