Sorry not enough!

AN APOLOGY to policyholders is not enough!That’s the reprimand to CLICO International Life Insurance (CIL) from management consultant Hally Haynes, in response to the company’s letters informing clients of its inability to honour financial obligations to them.Haynes, a CIL policyholder for several years, told the DAILY NATION the company should convene a meeting with its thousands of policyholders to inform them of the status of the company, rather than leave them to glean information from the news media.Haynes added: “To issue letters to say sorry that it cannot meet its financial obligations based on agreed contractual obligations is far from good enough if not downright unjust.” Haynes, one of the few policyholders to have gone public with his concerns, said he was cognisant that Government’s Oversight Committee had completed its work and the report would have been submitted. Haynes, a credit union director of over 20 years experience, urged CIL to convene a meeting with policyholders as a matter of urgency. “If the management of CLICO International Life Insurance refuses to convene such a meeting then the policyholders should convene their own meeting with learned and experience professionals to examine the possibilities available to them under the law,” Haynes stressed.Since being established early last year, the Government-appointed Oversight Committee has tried to attract a buyer for the cash-strapped CIL. But efforts to off-load the subsidiary of CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited have been futile because of the company’s liquidity problems and the deficit in its Statutory Fund.CIL is also faced with a $300 million demand in Executive Flexible Premium Annuities (EFPAs) which become due in 2012. (WG)