THE HAGUE--The Christian Democratic Party CDA in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament wants clarity about the emergency measure that the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) imposed on the insurance and pension management firm Ennia.

 

CDA Members of the Second Chamber Joba van den Berg and Erik Ronnes on Monday submitted a set of written questions to State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops and Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra.

 

Alarmed by the various media reports about the highly unusual emergency measure that the CBCS placed on Ennia last week, the Members of Parliament (MPs) asked the minister and state secretary whether they were aware of the situation at Ennia and the measure of the CBCS

 

The MPs requested the minister and state secretary to ask the CBCS why it didn’t take action at an earlier stage considering the earlier reports published first by the Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad about the suspicions of the Dutch Central Bank DNB that Ennia’s reserves were being depleted through deals with other companies that belong to the firm’s owner Hushang Ansary.

 

“In what manner did DNB issue warning two years ago?” asked Van den Berg and Ronnes, referring to a secret June 2015 report of the Dutch Central Bank, seen by the Financieele Dagblad. Sources reported to the newspaper in June 2016, the time of the publishing of the article, that participants in the insurance and pension market had already warned DNB in 2011 that Ansary was depleting the Ennia reserves.

 

The MPs wanted to know whether Ennia policy holders were warned about the developments when DNB published its highly critical report in 2015. “If so, in what manner were the policy holders warned?”   

 

The MPs specifically asked about the involvement of DNB. They wanted to know whether DNB had already received signals of possible issues at the Dutch Caribbean firm before the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles in October 2010, and if so, what steps were taken at the time.

 

Van den Berg and Ronnes further inquired about the share of Ennia in the insurance market in Curaçao and St. Maarten. “Is it correct that Ennia has half the insurance market. What does this situation mean for Ennia clients in relation to the damage that was caused by Hurricane Irma? How much has Ennia paid out to insurance holders so far?”  

 

Ennia also holds a large share of the pension market, especially in Curaçao. “What does the current situation at Ennia mean for persons who are building their pension (active and sleepers) and for those who are already at a pensionable age?” Van den Berg and Ronnes wanted to know.