WILLEMSTAD – Growing concern surrounds the fate of the insurance company ENNIA Leven Caribe and the resulting implications for policyholders.
A recent statement from Secretary of State Alexandra van Huffelen and an announcement from the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) reveal that the Curaçao government has opted for a controlled winding-down of ENNIA Leven Caribe over a period of 25 to 30 years, rather than pursuing a restart.
This decision has taken many by surprise, given that Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas had indicated until September 29th that he preferred a restart of ENNIA with the Netherlands and was willing to accept an offer of 1.2 billion guilders from the Netherlands.
Several policyholders have reached out to the editorial team of a local newspaper, expressing concerns about what the controlled winding-down means for their accrued or future pensions. A common complaint is the lack of clear information about the situation.
Minister of Finance, Javier Silvania, stated on Facebook that he and Pisas were working on an ENNIA solution without loans from the Netherlands. The proposed solution involves the government paying 30 million guilders annually to Ennia pensioners for a period of 25 to 30 years.
Within government circles, the media learns that questions have arisen about where this annual amount will come from. An anonymous former banker suggests that the chosen solution for ENNIA is incomprehensible. He believes it would be more efficient for the government to accept the Dutch offer of 600 million euros and restore the company's solvency. The former banker suggests that it would be more effective to alleviate ENNIA's debt with the company's earnings and potential sales, rather than opting for this controlled winding-down.