The PDM in a release states that they are outraged over the recent announcement made by the FSC concerning its application to have British Atlantic Financial Services placed into liquidation.
The PDM added that they have met with the Managing Director of BAFSL and have heard statements made by him and are deeply concerned about the circumstances leading up to this Announcement. We have since made representation to the Governor and have also written to the Premier and Minister of Finance as to the possibility of whether the Opposition PDM can meet with them to discuss this, given the impact such a liquidation could have on a significant number of citizens and residents of the TCI.
We are informed that there are some 2600 Policy Holders (with the largest of its clientele based in Grand Turk) who stand to lose greatly and in varied ways. We are livid that persons who have been medical, life and annuity policy holders stand to lose in many cases decades of investment. We wish to stress that this closure will have consequences of catastrophic effect. These are the circumstances as we understand them to be:
- many of the life insurance policies are old accounts held for several decades (issued by the now defunct British American Insurance Company) and are in many respects tied to mortgages, educational plans and many have drawn down for varied reasons each year;
- many medical (and life) insurance policies holders are at risk of having to remain uncovered or if possible reinsured at unaffordable rates due the increase in age and the fact that many have suffered a decline in health, both factors making them unattractive to new policy providers;
These are serious concerns and policy holders must be satisfied that all efforts have been made to allow BAFSL to trade into solvency. The FSC has a serious duty of care to the policy holders and ought to have sought ways to protect them who also ought to have a voice.
The Opposition PDM made representation on Tuesday in reference to the times of the meetings for policy holders and venue identified for Providenciales. We are pleased that BAFSL has announced changes to their times and venue so that the Meetings scheduled for Monday and Tuesday respectively in Providenciales and Grand Turk are accessible to more policy holders. We are therefore calling on policy holders to attend and air their concerns in this setting and to be prepared to participate in possible measures that will be launched to fight this process to liquidation. The Policy holders must be satisfied that all efforts to save their investment were made and that there is absolutely no chance of the company trading into solvency.
With the information released yesterday by the Managing Director of BASL, it appeared that the FSC did not allow the business to grow and create new sources of revenue which would have improved its financial footing and create a path to solvency.
Implicit to the role of regulator is the obligation to protect investors and the public at large. If it is that a company was allowed to be formed with an insolvent book of business and not allowed to trade its way to solvency one would have to question whether the duty of care was exercised by regulators in this circumstance.
With the information released by Mr Wilbur Caley of BASL concerning the company’s relationship with Mr Kevin Higgins of the FSC, we have today written to the Governor and called for an investigation into the handling of this Institution bearing in mind that under his directorship, this country is seeing another potential catatrophy for not only hardworking citizens of this country but also again serious reputational damage to these Islands.
