No mass layoffs at Massy; only 5% staff reduction
PHILIPSBURG — Reports reaching our news desk indicated that 50% of Massy United Insurance in Trinidad were being let go and Barbados and the BVI were to soon follow. However, an official statement StMaartenNews.com received from Massy United Insurance Ltd in Barbados stated that only 5% of its staff headcount in Trinidad and Barbados had been reduced as a result the departure of some its temporary employees whose contracts recently came to an end as well as some employees who elected to leave the organization. This reduction of only 5% of the total staff complement of the company will not materially impact the operations, the company emphasized in its statement.
Massy United Insurance Ltd’s statement also provided information that piqued our interested as well.
In their statement, Massy United Insurance (MUI) mentions that “to date, the company has settled 95% of claims arising from the catastrophic effects of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, which affected nine countries in which we operate – namely Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Maarten, St. Kitts & Nevis, Turks & Caicos.”
The company goes on to state that “Over 1,200 claims, estimated at USD$262 million were received from policyholders in these territories. For St. Maarten, 48 claims were received in the amount of USD$72 million, with 90% settled.”
That last sentence got our attention and we grabbed our calculator. 48 claims in the amount of 72 million US Dollars meant that the average claim value was 1,5 million US Dollars. That is a significant amount. This meant that Massy United Insurance has a major clientele in St. Maarten.
According to the company’s website, Massy United Insurance has branches in the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao with clients also in Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten. No confirmation could be found that Massy has a branch in St. Maarten. How does an insurance company with no physical branch on St. Maarten service clients that have claims totaling $72 million dollars?
We would like to know if Massy United Insurance is licensed by the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten to operate in the island territory of Dutch St. Maarten.
We would like to conclude this article with the fact that Massy United Insurance Ltd pointed out in its official statement that “As a responsible enterprise, it is our fiduciary duty to continue to review the efficiencies of the company’s operations on an on-going basis. The company is in the process of restructuring its operations to ensure that its business model aligns to its growth strategy for the period 2018 – 2020. The company has not initiated any lay-offs at any of its operations across the region.”
Massy United Insurance is part of a larger group of 60 companies operating under a holding company called Massy Group, which is active in several Caribbean countries with a chain of superstores and supermarkets. The Massy Group is also active in the business sectors of automotive (cars), telecommunications (fiber optics), money change points, drugstores and home supplies. According to our information, Massy Group has holdings in the construction and energy sectors in Trinidad and Tobago as well. Sectors which have been particularly hard hit by the downturn in the economy in that country.
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Mass layoffs at Massy?
Statement from Massy United Insurance Ltd.
