Business News of Thursday, 2 May 2019
Source: citibusinessnews.com
2019-05-02
NIC approved a takeover of Esich Life Assurance by a foreign company in 2018
Some former workers of Esich Life Assurance are pleading with the National Insurance Commission (NIC) to help them retrieve their contributions made into a Provident Fund while the company was operational.
Esich Life Assurance was said to have links with defunct Capital Bank. The NIC has currently appointed an administrator for the company.
Speaking to Citi Business News, one of the former workers of Esich Life Assurance, Joshua Addy said their salaries, Pension Contribution and allowances are all locked up in the company making life unbearable for them.
He stated that the former workers have petitioned the National Labour Commission to help them get their contributions back.
“We petitioned three institutions, that is Labour Commission, the regulator, the NIC and then Pensions. We had response from only the Labour Commission and then the Labour Commission called for a hearing, so we went for the first hearing and on that day, the company was not well represented so they rescheduled for another hearing,” he said.
Mr. Addy lamented that all efforts to get the NIC to aid in getting their funds have proved futile.
“For now, we are looking at our benefits. The benefits are made up of our salaries and then our allowances, then Provident Fund. We have made Provident Fund contributions over the period, unfortunately managers of the company didn’t register the provident fund. So as we speak the company is under administration and we can’t even access our provident fund”.
Background
In 2018, the National Insurance Commission (NIC) approved a takeover of Esich Life Assurance by a foreign company.
The decision was taken due to the company’s inability to solve liquidity challenges it was facing, which also affected the payment of claims to clients.
The troubles of Esich Life Assurance have been lingering for over a year now.
The company, continually convinced its customers that its processes are intact, following increased cases of panic withdrawal among the public.
Reports had attributed the panic withdrawals to the company’s connection with the Founder of the defunct Capital Bank, William Ato Essien.
