Maritime Group moves to restore client confidence

THE Maritime Financial Group has embarked on an exercise to assure its policy holders and depositors that their business is secure. This comes in the wake of criminal charges laid against the company. Letters have been sent to policyholders of Maritime Life (Caribbean) Ltd (MLCL), Maritime General Insurance Company Ltd (MGI) and Fidelity Finance and Leasing Company Ltd (FFLC), over the last month informing them that having been licensed under the Insurance Act, and the Financial Institutions Act 1993, the Central Bank as regulator, was “duty bound to protect the rights and interests of policy holders and depositors.” The letter stated that under Section 37 of the Insurance Act, “Our insurance operations are obliged to set up and maintain special and distinct funds (statutory funds) to cover all our liabilities to our policy holders.”

It further stated, “The Act requires that these funds be held in investments that are prescribed in the Second Schedule to the Act,” emphasising that “these are all secure, high quality investments.” The letter pointed out that Scotiabank acts as trustee for the MLCL investments, while RBTT is the trustee for the MGI investments. Maritime said it had always “met the full requirements of the Act and the trustees always hold sufficient investments to cover our Statutory Fund liabilities.” It said that fact was evident in its annual reports. The letter to the policy holders also reminded them that “FFLC is a member of the Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees your deposits up to $500,000.

“Since 2002, we have been working closely with the regulators to ensure our ability to meet our commitments to our policy holders and depositors. “As a result, we regularly report on our activities to the inspector of financial institutions. These reports are in addition to our required annual filings.” Maritime’s chief executive officer and chairman, John Smith, who signed the letter, pledged “to continue to do this at all times since we take pride in our financial strength and place first priority on meeting our commitments to our clients.” Clients calling Maritime to enquire about the letter are being assured “there is nothing to worry about and your investments are safe with the company.”