BASSETERRE-After several years of waiting for their pay day, some policyholders in the failed British American Insurance Corporation (Baico) are seeing financial light at the end of the tunnel.
This is because the governments of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) have commenced phase one of the policyholders relief programme for owners of traditional annuity insurance (FPA) policies and these policyholders have started to receive a payment equivalent to the amount of their policy balance as at August 1, 2009, plus the amount of any premiums they have paid since that date.
However, according to a media release issued by the ECCU governments, owners of Baico executive flexible premium annuity (EFPA) or flexible premium annuity II (FPAII) policies are not having such merry Christmas as their payment plans will roll out from next year under phases two and three of the programme.
For the FPA policyholders, as a condition of payment, they have had to sign an application and release form in which they give up all rights against Baico and other specified persons in respect of the FPA policy, and their policy will be cancelled as at August 1, 2009.
Policy owners eligible for immediate payments (those with balances less than EC$30,000) have been able to go into their local Baico branch since the programme started on December 3 in Antigua and Barbuda to collect payments.
Policyholders in Antigua and Barbuda; Grenada; Dominica; St Vincent and the Grenadines; and St Lucia have already collected their payments, while policyholders in St Kitts and Nevis will be able to start collecting from today until December 17, with Nevis only on December 15. In Anguilla and Montserrat, due to the small numbers, policy owners are being contacted directly.
However, not all policy owners have been able to receive an immediate payment, with only being paid as part of the deferred payment group. This includes policy owners whose policy balances exceeded EC$30,000 at August 1, 2009, they will not receive payment until around the first quarter 2013. However, they were still encouraged to apply now to ensure that their applications would be finalised without delay.
Baico policyholders who have EFPA and FPAII are slated to be assisted in phase two of the programme, currently planned for launch during the first quarter of 2013. The exact timing will depend on when funds are received by the ECCU governments and arrangements can be implemented, according to the release.
Caribbean360