BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CHAIRMAN of Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO) Holdings Barbados Ltd Leroy Parris has attempted to “clear the air” of widespread speculations surrounding the company’s financial stability following the public announcement of parent company CL Financial Group’s bailout plan.
In a press conference held at the Frigate Bay Beach Hotel yesterday (Feb. 6), Parris explained that CLICO companies throughout the Eastern Caribbean are not affected by its parent’s financial glitch, adding that CL Financial is a “financially stable” company and there is no need for customers to panic.
“It was only speculation and misinformation that CL Financial has collapsed. That is far from the truth. No organization with 65 companies and which controls an asset base of TT $100 billion can collapse by the government taking over three organizations. People started to say that the company is broke. What has happened in Trinidad only affected the three subsidiaries and not those across the Caribbean and the bailout does not even affect the other operations in Trinidad.
“CLICO Holdings Barbados Ltd. is a subsidiary of CL Financial which manages the assets of Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. CLICO Life Insurance, British American and CLICO Investment Bank have no responsibility to CLICO Holdings Barbados no more than it is a subsidiary of CL Financial. We do not repatriate funds from Dominica, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados to Trinidad. CLICO Holdings Barbados runs its own independent operation and all it does is report the financial information at the end of the year for consolidation into CL Financial.”
Parris stressed that CLICO companies in the Eastern Caribbean are “wholly ran by the Barbados management”. He underscored that CLICO Holdings is an operation in Barbados with BD $101.4 billion in assets, has 26 companies under its responsibilities and has a very strong management team.
“I give the public and policy holders of St. Kitts assurance that their pensions, policies, deposits and all their investments in this company are safe and secure. The parent company is not in trouble; the parent company is rich in asset. I must thank all our policy holders for their commitment and loyalty over the years. The company is secured and well run,” Parris noted.
Although Parris was unable to give details of any contingency plan to protect the St. Kitts branch from a possible liquidity problem, he stressed that his company has begun a “massive PR [public relations] drive” to regain the confidence of its clients. He however informed that he met with St. Kitts-Nevis’ Minister of Finance Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris whom he claims is expected to address the issue in Cabinet.
CL Financial’s subsidiary CLICO Investment Bank had been faced with financial difficulties late January of this year when the government of Trinidad and Tobago moved to withdraw its deposit of TT$100 million. The government recently approved a bailout plan for the parent company and now has control over three of its financial institutions in conjunction with the island’s Central Bank.
