ENNIA rises from the ashes, but questions remain – StMaartenNews.com – News Views Reviews

PHILIPSBURG — The rescue plan for embattled insurance company ENNIA is underway. The Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS) announced the launch of a new entity per January 1, 2025. The Central Bank describes it in a press release as “a solvent and independently functioning insurance group.”

The new group consists of four companies that have licenses from the CBCS and the Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). The newly created entity is Ennia Holding NV, the shareholder of Ennia Leven, Ennia Caribe Schade and Ennia Caribe zorg.

The new Ennia group “works under sustainable ownership and is adequately capitalized,” the CBCS stated in a press release. Leven, Schade en Zorg have licenses to operate in Curacao and St. Maarten. Leven and Schade are also allowed to conduct insurance activities on the BES-islands.

Ennia Caribe Holding and Ennia Caribe Leven are not a part of the new insurance group. The holding has been renamed Vehia NV and Leven has been renamed Velia NV. Both companies remain under the emergency measure the court imposed in 2018.

There are still plenty of questions surrounding the steps taken by the CBCS to rescue Ennia from a disastrous bankruptcy. One of them is the ownership of the new insurance group. According to the CBCS, Curacao and St. Maarten will not become co-owners of the new entity. Instead, the ownership will be put in the hands of a management foundation “until it can be put in a responsible way in private hands.”

That is sour grapes for the governments in Willemstad and Philipsburg, if only because they have to contribute serious money to the rescue operation. Curacao has agreed to pay 30 million guilders per year for a period of thirty years, while St. Maarten has committee 2.3 million for the same period. The Central Bank pumps 15 million guilders a years into the insurance company for a period of fifty years.

However, the Resolution Fund will act as the certificate holder for the management foundation. Any revenue (from dividends or the sale of shares) will go to this fund and ultimately to Curacao and St. Maarten.

The old Ennia group had 27,450 policy holders; only 3,084 of them are in St. Maarten – a share of around 11.23 percent. This makes the contribution St. Maarten is going to pay sound almost reasonable, because the 2.3 million adds up to around 7.7 percent, compared to the 30 million Curacao will put on the table.

There are obviously also concerns about the ownership of the new Ennia companies. For the time being, it will be put in the hands of a management foundation, but it remains unclear whether (or not) St. Maarten will have one or more representatives on the board of this foundation.

For Ennia policy holders it probably does not make a lot of difference because the way things look now their pensions are secured.

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