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The Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Clement Cheung, acting in his capacity as the Insurance Authority (IA), today (May 5) appointed Mr Peter Whalley and Mr Jan Blaauw of PricewaterhouseCoopers as Joint Managers to take full control of the affairs and property of Anglo Starlite Insurance Company Limited (Anglo Starlite) to protect policy holders.
A spokesman for the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance said that the management of Anglo Starlite was suspected to have committed forgery in reporting its financial status to the IA and could become insolvent. The appointment of the Joint Managers was made in accordance with section 35(2)(b) of the Insurance Companies Ordinance.
The spokesman said, "Anglo Starlite has been subject to close monitoring by IA due to its underwriting losses and solvency position. In this respect, IA has taken a number of regulatory actions on this company, including requirement to place a statutory deposit of $200 million in the name of IA as well as a limit on the number of policies and gross premiums that this company could underwrite annually.
"Based on market intelligence and individual complaints, IA decided in April 2009 to investigate and verify the bank deposits and other assets reportedly held by the company.
"In the course of such investigations, IA discovered that some deposit receipts provided by the company could be forged. The company would become insolvent if these deposits were to be discounted.
"Appointment of the Joint Managers to take control of assets held by the company is necessary in order to safeguard the interest of policyholders," the spokesman said.
The Joint Managers will conduct an assessment on the financial position of Anglo Starlite and report the findings to IA.
Anglo Starlite is incorporated locally and engages primarily in providing coverage for taxis and goods carrying vehicles. It employs 44 staff and in terms of gross premiums written takes up 0.5% of the general insurance market and 4.9% of the motor vehicle business in Hong Kong.
About 16,000 policyholders are involved, of which 15,906 being motor insurance policies and 32 employees compensation policies. Existing insurance policies issued by Anglo Starlite are unaffected and remain valid.
The amount of outstanding claims of Anglo Starlite is about $272million. Pending the findings of the Joint Managers in examining the books of the company, the statutory deposit, together with resources available in the Insolvency Fund (about $2 billion) managed by the Motor Insurers¡¦ Bureau, are expected to be able to meet all the valid outstanding insurance claims.
Members of the public who are concerned with the status of their insurance policies or claims are advised to contact the Joint Managers on their telephone hotline (2289 5011) or by fax (2890 8345).
Ends/Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:53
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