The High Court in Dominica has appointed Michael Toney former Marpin Receiver as Judicial Manager of First Domestic Insurance Company.
Since the passage of Hurricane Maria in September 2017, the First Domestic Insurance Company has not been able to pay all its debts and Chief Executive Officer of the Company Curtis Tonge said they have been trying to meet their obligations.
After the passage of Hurricane Maria, the Government of Dominica gave his company a loan of EC$ 5 million to assist FDIC in paying out claims to policyholders affected by Hurricane Maria but that was just a small pie in the ocean.
“The Government of Dominica has been good enough to provide us with a loan of $5 million and I repeat it’s a loan of $5 million for ten years at a small interest rate of three percent and had to give properties as securities. If we had to go to the bank it would have been at seven, eight, nine, or even ten percent interest.”
But insurers believe that not enough is being done to pay and the government should have done much more. “The government is also responsible and should ensure that every insurance holder gets paid it is not fair almost three years after Hurricane Maria,” another said.
According to him, the debt owed to insurers is “probably well over 20 million eastern Caribbean dollars” but as I’ve said before, the company needs some financial help and the negotiation with the government continues.
Toney will now take full control of the company as the court-appointed Judicial Manager and see how it can pay the debts of the company.