No premium, no company, NO?COMPANY?STRESS. There was Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler giving the brutal facts of life with CLICO, as it were.
Another bitter pill for the swallowing is that there is no paying of dividends or cash surrenders while CLICO remains under judicial management.
Which has led many to the question: Should I continue to pay my monthly premium – should I have my premium deducted from my monthly salary – even though I expect little in return or just might get nothing at all?
Mr Sinckler makes no bones about it: you should pay your premiums, as he does his, that CLICO might survive and in so doing provide in short time some return on the investment of policyholders – or at least retrieval of their principal.
We continue to monitor with keen interest the positions being advanced by leading officials on CLICO, and like the thousands of policyholders we remain anxious for the authorities to settle this score.
Indeed, Mr Sinckler has peeped out from behind the veil of secrecy this week hinting broadly of an imminent solution.
Without offering hope of anything grand and “without a lot of noise and fanfare”, the minister has promised a “structured solution” and has revealed that he and the judicial managers have been “working to an orderly resolution of this issue”.
He has thrown reputable names too into the brew; Mr Sinckler speaks of a “very good team”, including representatives of the Central Bank of Barbados and the Ministry of Finance, “as well as others from outside the country”.
Their collective submissions have already been made to the High Court, the minister boasts. Comforting words for aching policyholders? We think not.
For the benefit of all involved we can only hope that after the many months of inconvenience, we would soon see the desired light at the end of the tunnel.
Today, policyholders continue to ponder the “legitimacy” of CLICO’s receiving moneys from them while offering none itself in dividends or otherwise.
They also wonder why their contributions could not be suspended, without their being penalized or made to lose ultimate benefits, as CLICO stands at the beck and call of the judicial managers.
When people hurt, they look for immediate and full ease, naturally.
Also lurking above all the bright talk is the missing supportive documentation of CLICO’s assets to the tune of $350 million – a challenge for the judicial managers.
Mr Sinckler, by permission, will speak to this in due course – of course!
