Surprise, surprise after almost a decade Resolutions Life Assurance Company (Reslife)– a company formed to receive the assets of the failed CLICO Insurance Limited with a top up from taxpayers- was recently established.   Why have we expressed ‘surprise’? There is a general election bell to be rung soon of course.

On behalf of the former CLICO policyholders we wish the new company well but …

Meet the Board of Reslife:-

It is interesting to note based on a search of CAIPO that Resolution Group Reinsurance (Barbados) Ltd was registered 3 July 2014 # 38385 and Resolution Life Assurance Company Limited was registered on 30 July 2015 # 39671. It prompts the question WHY did the powers that be chose the name for the new company when a Google search revealed that there is a UK based insurance company with the name Resolution Life?

We do not expect that the Barbados flavour of Resolution Life will operate outside of Barbados in the foreseeable future to make the similarity in names an issue but still it the rationale for the name demands an explanation.

 

140 responses to “Resolution Life Barbados, Resolution Life UK (?)”

  1. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    about 1.5% more than several other islands charge?

  2. Dr. Simple Simon Avatar

    @Hal Austin January 24, 2018 at 7:57 AM .”What I would venture is that this is typically the level of discussion we get on this blog about serious business and financial issues.”

    And while the BU people engage in their typical level of discussion, the real serious business and financial masters of the universe engage in fondling, feeling-up, and exposing their withered privates.
    https://www.ft.com/content/075d679e-0033-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5

  3. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Northern….and that’s the problem, being the crabs in the barrel they are, all the small island governments competed to see how cheaply they could sell their asses and that of their people to these tax dodging thieves….to gain what…nothing…and all of them ended up blacklisted.

    This is Barbados’ third world deteriorating condition in real time:

    This is what selling their souls for a meagre 1.5% has gotten them, including being blacklisted.

    Ah gotta ask…was being a cheap whore worth it?

    THE GOVERNMENT IS UNABLE TO:

    Sustain 8 weeks of foreign exchange in the central bank

    Fix and maintain its roads

    Fix and maintain its sewage system

    Fix and maintain its garbage collection system

    Maintain an adequate credit rating

    Borrow on international markets

    Create decent paying jobs for its citizens

    Stop white companies from using the island for free

    Fix and maintain an adequate public healthcare system

    Fix and maintain an adequate transportation system

    Ya can add anything I missed, cause if one aspires to be a prostitute, not only should ya have class, but you should be able to earn an income that is sufficient to maintain and reflects that class.

  4. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    This is what selling yaself cheaply for 1.5% gets ya..

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/123277/school-bus-woes

    After some students were left stranded at Grantley Adams Memorial School until about 8 o’clock on Tuesday night, concerns have been raised about the inefficient bus service.

    A resident called the DAILY NATION to express disgust at the situation soon after the bus left. He said some children were forced to go to nearby houses to call their parents to see if they could be collected from the Blackman’s, St Joseph school.

    Yesterday, principal Valdez Francis, who has been in charge since last July, said there were as many as eight buses in the morning but only two or three in the evening. He explained it was not the school’s fault, but they tried to work with the Transport Board.

    “Generally I get the guard to monitor the arrival of the buses. My deputy goes down there, I go sometimes and at a certain time [when] I notice there is no bus, I would call the Transport Board and generally they would help me.”

    WHILE FRUENDEL LIES AND LIES…..about this nonexistent growth plan that only exists in his twisted minded.

    “Prime Minister Freundel Stuart is pinning his hopes for the recovery of Barbados’ economy on the Barbados Sustainable Recovery Plan 2018.

    He told the business community yesterday the comprehensive, multi-pronged plan, recently approved by Cabinet, was a road map to put Barbados on a path of “steady state equilibrium with a view to propelling the economy to the pre-crisis growth level of an average three per cent, by 2021”.

  5. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Brooklyn got a sale on bridges, but I can’t tell ya the cost. …..lol

    “Since December last year” was last month it would be doing his job, finally, if Fruendel gave more details to the people he needs to reelect him in a couple months, since he now has to go borrowing from IDB because he wukup and partied out the taxpayer’s money that could have fixed the sewage system.

    Generations of bajans not yet born, should not have to be repaying that IDB loan.

    “Sewage fix coming
    Govt counting on IDB support in resolving south coast leaks

    Added by Marlon Madden on January 24, 2018.

    The vexing south coast sewage mess should soon be a thing of the past as the country embarks on a long-term solution with financial help from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), says Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.

    In fact, he disclosed this afternoon at the first Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) luncheon for 2018, that he was in possession of a final report following extensive testing and assessments carried out by experts since December last year.

    Stuart did not give details of the report, nor did he reveal how much it would cost to resolve the crisis.

    However, said he would soon send the report off to the IDB, which would then provide the necessary assistance.”

  6. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @WW&C….Appreciating 1.5% (or whatever number) is the direct take. It doesn’t factor in taxes from those working in the industry, or the economic impact from all the office space they rent, services used etc etc. My observation is there are many people employed in this industry, and they tend to earn ‘good money’.
    Also the “islands” aren’t the only low tax/no tax jurisdictions? Minimal research finds the FACTA creator has more than its share of similar tax jurisdictions…https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/05/how-the-u-s-became-one-of-the-worlds-biggest-tax-havens/?utm_term=.d7e4e319b047
    “Contrary to popular belief, notorious tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Jersey and the Bahamas were far less permissive in offering the researchers shell companies than states such as Nevada, Delaware, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming and New York, the researchers found.”

    The issues you raised have little to do with “offshore”, rather the ability of a public administration to balance inflows/outflows [I/O]. Scrap offshore, and the I/O gap widens, unless you cut the expenses or have a replacement economic generator. Same dilemma, different numbers.

    The issue most relevant to Barbados, is not which foreign entities are avoiding their own tax systems, but which of OUR taxpayers are avoiding OUR taxes.

  7. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Northern…I have heard all of that argument before, but it changes nothing since it is still not enough to sustain the country and its citizens or effectively manage the countries needs or meet its commitments…

    ……as I said a year or 2 ago…these companies pay up 25% taxes in their countries, they can damn well afford to pay 10% in the islands..

    …….look at the alternative, blacklist AND they have to adhere to restrictions from EU….or stay blacklisted.

    so now we can add bactetia laden tap water to that list outlining the island’s rapid descent into definite 3rd world status.

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/123518/us-embassy-issues-caution-regarding-bacteria-tap-water

    “The United States Embassy in Barbados says recent tests at several US Embassy residences here have revealed “elevated levels” of bacteria in the tap water.

    In a notice posted on its website, the Embassy recommended that its staff boil their drinking water or use bottled water.

    The Embassy said it would continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates accordingly.

    It also advised its citizens to follow the directions of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on how to stay healthy and safe.”

  8. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Wake up call

    “Health Alert – U. S. Embassy Bridgetown (January 25, 2018)

    Location: Barbados

    Event: Recent tests at several U.S Embassy residences revealed bacteria at elevated levels in the tap water. As a precautionary measure, the U.S. Embassy recommended to its staff to boil their drinking water or use bottled water. The U.S. Embassy will continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates accordingly.

    Actions to Take:”

  9. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Since when, should the revenue from Offshore be able to sustain a country?
    You know damn well, that the net tax rate for many companies in NA, is far less than 25%, and falling. If I am paying 16% at home, you think I will take on the added costs (they know how to charge well those offshore folks) to save 6% or less (at your proposed tax rate).

    The challenge is for countries to figure out how to keep tax revenue at home. And to SPEND in a way, that taxpayers see ‘value for money’. As long as they keep on running huge deficits, something a for-profit business cannot do, and people cannot see ‘value for money’, the decision is made to ‘avoid taxation’. Once it starts, the spiral can quickly get out of control.


  10. Donville Inniss is claiming that the International Business Sector pays 60 per cent of corporate taxes in Barbados. I do not believe it, and iaf they are then something is seriously wrong with corporate Barbados.
    This is when we need close scrutiny, which some people call nit-picking. We want to know how many businesses there are; how many jobs they provide; the areas they operate in. We also want to know how many limited liability companies are registered in Barbados and their lines of business and their total taxes for the latest financial year. All this is information the Inland Revenue and the statistical service should have on hand.
    There are lies, damned lies and Barbadian government statistics.

  11. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Northern…in case you missed it, tourism does not sustain the island singularly either, why have thousands of companies hiding billions of dollars from their tax agencies combined…and none if it can sustain your island…..why do it at all if it is not sustainable..

    You accused states in the US of being tax havens, I would bet my last damn dollar that their tax haven status sustains them..

    .. why should the same companies using small islands to hide billions of tax free dollars not also sustain small islands, why should these companies benefit by billions and not small islands….where is your logic coming from?

    Why should small islands not benefit and be sustained, why should only tax cheats and thieves benefit significantly and not islands like Barbados, you are not making sense on this one.

    Again, wuth thousands of companies making billions of dollars by using the island, with hundreds of hotels on the island whose income is never briught to the island in its enturety and the yearly bragging and boasting about tourism numbers….none of it is sustaining the island or maintaining the infrastructures sufficiently or adequately.

  12. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    It appears you will have a business, because offshore companies are businesses…and you will allow them to pay you $10 each…so THEY can save a billion a year per company and hide from their tax agencies….while you cannot buy groceries, save money, put gas in your vehicle, repair your home…or send your children to school….because the money you agreed to in exchange for these companies to hide from their tax man….is not sustainable.

    That means you are not operating a real business, but a charity to make offshore companies wealthy….while you and your family suffer.

    Had to break it down to its lowest common denominator see if it still makes sense to you.

  13. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    I didn’t accuse…I provided a third party quote, to show the USA have jurisdictions which are similarly low tax.

    98% of the companies are not firms with billions. And the comparison you make “paying $10 to save billions” is so far away from reality, to make it farcical. While the formula varies from one low tax jurisdiction to another, most have annual company fees + operational fees + tax at whatever rate they charge. And if they are not operational entities, they are investment entities, and the fees associated with those can dwarf the prior ones.

    I believe companies should be paying taxes WHERE they actually earn their revenues. Yet, if you look at, for example the history of multi-nationals, they earned revenue from many places, but were largely paying tax on profits only in their home base.

    So if one seeks to say “ban all offshore”, what next? The demand still exists? So suddenly lands like “native reserves” which are independent, and home to many casinos, now expand their product offering to include low/no tax?

    So Barbados bans off-shore, where does the replacement revenue come from? The GoB is now to employ several thousand who are out of work? Meanwhile the companies simply find another jurisdiction. Who loses?

    The real issue you have is with the levying and collection of taxes. I agree 100% the system is broken. But an ‘international fix’ is unlikely.

  14. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @HA
    the question you should ask yourself is “what is corporate Barbados?”
    Is that entity you think is Barbadian, actually domiciled in Barbados?
    A year ago, when the WI Rum Refinery was sold to a French entity, first read the public press release
    https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/maison-ferrand-purchases-historic-west-indies-rum-distillery-in-barbados-300421974.html
    then read the article in the Nation
    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/94322/local-rum-company-sold
    Do you think UCRL is a Barbadian company or a St.Lucian company?

    When BHL was sold to AmBev, were not the purchasing company(S) all domiciled elsewhere?


  15. So Barbados bans off-shore, where does the replacement revenue come from? The GoB is now to employ several thousand who are out of work? Meanwhile the companies simply find another jurisdiction. Who loses?
    ++++++++++
    I was informed by a “mandarin” in the Min. of Finance several years ago that the “offshore” business was a very important plank in the development of the Barbados middle class as it provided employment for many accountants, administration and other personnel.

    They can’t afford to ban them it would be “cutting off your nose to spite your face”

  16. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    “So if one seeks to say “ban all offshore”, what next? ”

    Northern…no one is saying ban offshore…just make it sustainable…

    ..sustainability should not be one sided..

    .. good example, companies like Loblaws will never be satisfied just paying a measly 1.5%, they will always try to balance it out by paying nothing at all just by setting up a bogus bank or a bogus anything, that is no bank at all…..or no anything at all…..to cheat on taxes even more….most companies love the challenge of stealing from everyone.

    That scam should have been exposed by local government and Loblaws made to be pay more than 1.5%…..

    ….please note that it was exposed anyway and they will pay a heavy penalty in Canada running into half billion dollars or more for being slick….with their bogus Glenhuron bank at CGI Towers.

    …..so you can sit there and convjnce yourself that they are the only one of thousands of companies who continue to run cheating scams on Barbados, the other islands and CRA..


  17. NorthernObserver January 26, 2018 at 2:30 PM #

    Corporate Barbados is comprised of all the legally Barbados-registered listed and limited liability companies; domiciled simply means where the head office is based.
    I am not talking about sentimental nonsense about what is or is not a Barbadian company. What I want is evidence that these International Businesses pay 60 per cent of corporate taxation – how many companies are they? What is the aggregate of their taxes and what is the aggregate of non-international businesses?
    Further, how many jobs have they created and what types of jobs? What sectors do they operate in? All this is information that Donville Inniss’ department should have readily at hand; so should the chamber of commerce, the statistical service; the media and others.

  18. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    BTW…the islands that were blacklisted, nearly had strokes trying to get off the list.

    the low tax jurisdictions who have not made blacklist yet, will get strokes trying to stay off that list…lol

    so why not make the offshore sector more sustainable for the islands, given all the effort now required to stay off a blacklist.

    the upside to blacklisting…no more crab in the barrel antics from island governments to see who could undercut the other the most to attract the most companies and the biggest criminals to cheat the most taxes…it has now become too risky, so commonsense should prevail.

    it will also reduce significantly these same offshore companies who already rip off their host countries, from funding island election campaigns and bribing ministers so they can have the option of shaping island policy, using their criminal activities when the bribed politician is elected.

    you cannot become so hand to mouth that ya rely on criminality and corruption to survive….look where that reliance has gotten Barbados, the end result is not attractive, at least not from where i am sitting..


  19. @Sargeant

    Good intervention, we talk about dismantling what exist but struggle to offer what are adequate substitutes. What we have to do is ensure we grow the fundamentals of the economy that allow for being nimble based on the opportunities available.

  20. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    WW&C
    In theory, Loblaw should be paying ALL taxes IN CANADA. That aside, maybe instead of setting up in Barbados, they should have set up in another of the 22 nations who have tax treaties with Canada? Some offer lower rates than Barbados? They would have the same exposure at the CRA, for the treaty laws are reasonably identical.

    Your concept of “sustainability” is your perception of what they are contributing. You think 1.5% is ridiculously low, because in your opinion they can afford more. It is actually, comparatively on the high side. And 1.5% of big money, may actually make them one of the larger tax payers in a small pond. [i don’t know the actual numbers]

    As I suggested before, your beef should be with the Canadian government, who enabled all these tax treaties in the first place. Trusts, are a different animal.

    The Barbadian government could increase the rate to 5%, or 10% and watch those companies run to a similar jurisdiction with lower rates.

    You seem to think, Barbados can simply raise the tax rates, or that the company’s should feel it necessary to pay higher rates. Unfortunately, the world is competitive.

  21. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @HA
    go down to CAIPO and check. Their online database search is useless beyond confirming a name exists, an inc # and a date.

    I would “guess” some of what you seek is considered proprietary information. They do not wish competitive jurisdictions knowing, because you cannot discover much in those jurisdictions either.

    Write to BIBA [biba.bb] and see what info they have and share.

  22. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @Sarge
    seems the ONT PC’s have selected Vic Fedeli. You remember the last Premier from North Bay? LOL


  23. NorthernObserver January 26, 2018 at 4:34 PM #

    This should be publicly available information, apart from which the media should be pressing the authorities to release the relevant details. We cannot make informed decisions unless we have the up-to-date information. That is the foundation of a democracy.

  24. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    Northern…am well aware of the competitiveness, what is escaping you is the ongoing crackdown on companies who stashed money from tax agencies, as well as crack down on low tax jurisdictions that will ultimately see 1.5 percent and lower jurisdictions become a thing of the past….Mossack Fonseca…was already forced to shut shop and that is just the beginning…

    if you had a choice to pay 5 or 10 percent as opposed to 25 or 30 percent in North America, will you still hold out for 1.5 or less, well good luck going forward, cause those 22 jurisdictions you mentioned, will also see the light when a few more Mossacks are indicted, pay billion dollar fines and forced to shut shop….when the tax dodgers and cheats are forced to pay back all they cheated.

    1.5 is exceedingly low when to balance it out to pay nothing at all, they set up a bogus company, that is called bait and switch, give with one hand, take it back with the other….and no records exist…it is theft perpetrated on the island, remember, none of the ministers are the brightest bulbs, they cant see let alone compete with that level of criminality.

    it looks like Canada and other jurisdictions are set to get back those taxes..i dont see small islands having a choice but to stamp out grand theft or forever be blacklisted.

  25. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    “We cannot make informed decisions unless we have the up-to-date information”
    so complain.
    More than 75% of the SOE’s listed in Dr JR’s list are a few, several, or a decade behind in reporting.
    I laugh when I read bloggers asking for proposals/manifestos etc. Before you can cure/heal the patient you have to know where they are bleeding/sick. If your diagnosis is based on guesswork, then so are your solutions?

  26. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    as i said, with ministers not being the brightest bulbs, a member of Canadas parliament is cheating on paying taxes in Barbados…remember him…Morneau Shepell Ltd…actuarial company…big confusion in parliament.

    and instead of government use their own local actuaries…they are paying this firm, whose owner is barely paying any taxes, to perform actuarial services of NIS pension fund and who knows which other government departments, which of course will run into many thousands of dollars for taxpayers to pay, which in turn cancels out the 1.5 percent in taxes, i bet if you check some more, there will be a trend going back at least 20 years….with all the offshore companies sucking the island dry woith one scam or the other, bait and switch..

    these guys are born and bread walking scams, embedded in their genes for centuries.

  27. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Forget the blacklisting, that is a political game.
    It will be continual. The targets may move. Yet each time one of these bodies takes aim and fires, one notes how they avoid ‘their own’.

  28. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    you are picking up the goal posts and moving them onto a completely new pasture!!!!

    Bill Morneau’s offshore was in the Bahamas, not Barbados. Also some chateau in France, owned via a prior undisclosed company (to the Ethics Commissioner)
    It was Morneau-Shepell who authored the actuarial review for the NIS, and who raised anything about M-S taxes?? Not an issue as far as I know

    LOL…”these guys are born and bread walking scams, embedded in their genes for centuries.”…ah ha back to the normal contrarian checkerboard approach.

  29. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    that is why everyone took aim at them since the most criminal jurisdictions were not named…..cherry picking because they are well aware of these islands vulnerabilities.

    we can forget the blacklisting, but small island governments cant, it makes them more vulnerable to the most vicious of white criminals.


  30. @NO

    The issue with offshore is that the OECD countries have decided that money flows from North to South must be curtailed because it is time. We have to pullback from this line of business because it will be contracting from this point. Arguing about who has s low cost etc is immaterial.

  31. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    ….Bill Morneau’s offshore was in the Bahamas, not Barbados. …

    that is not what was said in Canadas parliament…i listened to the video myself…

    wuh, happen, you dont like the truth or what…wuh if white men in positions of power cant seem to stop thiefing, lying, cheating and ripping off small islands with still very vulnerable people…how is that my fault…and why should i keep quiet about it.

  32. Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service Avatar
    Well Well @ Cut and Paste @ Your Service

    there is no disputing that after 20 years or more, it is time for an upgrade to the offshore sector….minus the ass kissing…nothing lasts forever.

  33. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @Blogmaster
    really.
    Are you aware that when the funds in these various offshore’s are invested, the dividends are subject to withholding tax? They can AVOID capital gains where it is levied, and pay minimal tax on the residual income. HA will know the UK rate, the US withholding tax rate is 25%. Canada is 20%. Not to mention the ‘investment advisors’ are frequently linked to the same OECD members.
    So it isn’t like the tax man in major jurisdictions is getting nothing?
    The ability to remit dividends tax free is another story. But there is a tax treaty covering that.
    Plus, they all cry foul about money laundering, yet some of the shadiest operations can buy real estate in major urban centres, [read OECD members] and amaurosis fugax sets in. Its all good, because a foreign buyer is usually fattening a local calf. When a foreign entity is selling to another foreign entity, a different set of rules kick in.
    Crypto, or other innovations may bring them to their knees. Otherwise they are not stopping a damn thing. A little hot air and puffing maybe.


  34. @NO

    Isn’t it more about the flow of the principal and not the tax benefit?

  35. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    I don’t follow the OECD specifically to know all of their concerns. My observations are shaped by the opinions of accountants and lawyers who focus on off-shore.
    I believe “flows” relate to anti money laundering [AML] and proceeds from Crime more than tax avoidance.


  36. The Executive Summary of this extensive reports gives a hint of the complexity of inflows and outflows to from developed and developing countries even if somewhat dated.

    http://www.gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Financial_Flows-final.pdf

  37. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Correct on the complexity. I have to read more fully. I will guess that much of the referenced outflow refers to ‘developing countries with raw materials’. A continuing issue.


  38. About a year after the Liberals formed government, in October 2016, a Bahamian subsidiary of Morneau Shepell — listed as Morneau Shepell (Bahamas) and fully owned by the parent company —

    moved its corporate registration to Barbados.

    No public reason was given for the change.


  39. @Northern
    In my opinion the PC’s shot themselves in the foot, they selected an interim leader and they plan to select a new leader before the next election. Fedeli was campaigning for the job long term, after Brown appeared before the cameras Fedeli was on the local CTV touting his talents and lobbying for the job.

    BTW CTV’s local parliamentary reporter Paul Bliss who was reporting on the Brown issue has been suspended following sexual misconduct allegations.

  40. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    ” listed as Morneau Shepell (Bahamas) and fully owned by the parent company — moved its corporate registration to Barbados.”

    And that is what was discussed in Canadas parliament late last year in french actually….that slick scam.

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