Bajan CLICO customers blast new restructuring plan

(Barbados Nation) A new court-approved restructuring plan for the controversial CLICO International Life Insurance Company that will see investors and policyholders not get the full value of their investments plus interest has been blasted by the policyholders’ group.

Though not all the details were released by judicial manager Deloitte Consulting, through principals Oliver Jordan and Patrick Toppin, the two said yesterday their proposed plan would involve a “write-down” in the value of “all policyholders’ liabilities” to “match the estimated value of the company’s net available assets”.

The last publicly known value of CLICO assets was estimated at B$802 million, while the liabilities were said to be B$768.4 million.

Those liabilities included traditional insurance policyholders and investors in the high-interest paying Executive Flexible Premium Annuities (EFPAs) that were sold to individuals and companies.

But the Barbados Investors and Policyholders Alliance (BIPA) said it was “shocked” by yesterday’s announcement.

President June Fowler told the SATURDAY SUN: “We are clearly not happy with the restructuring plan. Judging by the silence over the past couple of months, we kind of felt it would lead to this.

“We are still continuing to go to court. This issue is far from over. For sure, we will not be taking this lying down.”