Despite a delay, the final payout to distressed policyholders of CLICO (Bahamas) is now expected to be made in January 2017.
"We expect that final payout to be in the region of approximately $38 million. This amount would be dispersed by government bond through policyholders and not cash," said Minister of State for Finance Michael Halkitis in Parliament yesterday.
Liquidators Leno Corporate Services and other professionals are completing a business plan and funding structure that would ultimately be approved by the Insurance Commission of The Bahamas (ICB) and the Supreme Court, Halkitis pointed out.
The first payout took place from March 1 to June 30, 2016 encompassing approximately 3,389 issued checks, totaling just over $11 million.
"These payouts were for policyholders of record as at February 29, 2016, who had surrendered policies, claims and annuities," said Halkitis.
There are still approximately 300 policyholders who were left out from the first payout.
Halkitis said that occurred because they did "not provide the necessary information at the time to enable them to be paid out".
The payout among the estimated 300 policyholders is "ongoing".
"We expect the final payout to take place in January 2017, subject to the approval of the Insurance Commission.
"We had anticipated earlier, but we were, as with many things, slightly delayed by Hurricane Matthew," said Halkitis.

Active policies
As a part of the government's resolution, it was reiterated by the minister of state that all active policies would be managed and administered by a new insurance company called Coral Insurance Company Limited.
"We are currently evaluating proposals from entities that expressed an interest in managing the insurance portfolio of Coral. Once selected, the manager and new board of directors, along with the business plan, will be presented to the insurance commission for approval," said Halkitis.
"Coral Insurance Company will not take on any new business, but they will be responsible for holding those policies that remain active and administering those. In order to do that, you have to have a license as an insurance company and that is what we are doing. They are not to take on new business. They are to manage the portfolio of policies that have remained active."

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