Settlements and legal action for policy holders of failed insurance companies begins

Payments in the September 2019 British American Insurance Company Ltd {BAICO) settlements are well underway.To date approximately 30% of the settlement value allocated to the SVG jurisdiction has been paid out.Policyholders who have not yet received payments are encouraged to collect cheques or make alternative arrangements for payment as soon as possible.  The appeal was made by Brian Glasgow, Judicial Manager of British American Insurance Company (SVG) Ltd.  He advised that settlements of 4% of investment or deposit values are being made in this distribution. “As at this point, we are now able to offer policyholders a total of 14% of their policy value”.Payments and further information can be obtained from the offices of KPMG, First Floor, NIS Building, Kingstown.Glasgow, speaking at a meeting of The British American and CLICO Policy Holders – BACOL, took the opportunity to urge policy holders to give their support to BACOL’s work.  BACOL has retained a legal team which is currently preparing an action to be brought before the Caribbean Court of Justice in its original jurisdiction.  The action will be seeking redress for policy holders in the Eastern Caribbean who were discriminated against on the basis of nationality.  This refers specifically to the rate of settlement paid to policyholders of the Eastern Caribbean which amounted to significantly less than that paid to policy holders in Trinidad and Tobago.The meeting, held in St.Vincent and the Grenadines on Wednesday September 4^th 2019,  was chaired by Dr Patrick Antoine, Chairman of the group, and was addressed by Queen’s Counsel Mr. Simon Davenport (Head of 3 Hare Court Chambers in London, England) and Senior Counsel Dr. Kenny Anthony (Former Prime Minister of St. Lucia), both members of BACOL’s high powered legal team.BACOL was formed in Grenada in 2013 with the main objective of recovering policyholder’s investments from the failed British American and CLICO Insurance Company, their subsidiaries and affiliates.  BACOL has since been extended to include membership from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in addition to the original membership of Grenada.BACOL, with a current membership of over 1000 is conducting a series of meetings throughout the Eastern Caribbean during the month of September, 2019.