Failed New Zealand-based insurer CBL Corporation, now in liquidation, is back in the spotlight with one of its directors adamant they could have found a commercial solution for the firm.
Two months on from the insurer being placed into liquidation, CBL Corporation former managing director Peter Harris claims the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) failure to communicate was a major stumbling block for the failed insurer, BusinessDesk reports. Harris said RBNZ officials did not understand the commercial realities facing the firm and were reportedly harder to deal with than other regulators.
“They were not interested in commercial decisions. They weren’t interested in the commercial implications of what they were doing,” Harris told the publication. “The biggest problem we had with them was that they were very poor communicators.”
The former insurance boss had reportedly hoped the appointment of Adrian Orr as RBNZ governor would instigate change at the regulator but has not seen any sign of that happening.
Harris’s comments follow RBNZ’s release of findings of an independent review on CBL’s case. BusinessDesk reported the review found the central bank had too light a touch at times with the insurer and that its oversight was a dramatic example of the inadequacies in the prudential supervision regime. It also noted several instances of communication breakdown, not just with CBL, but also with other regulators such as Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, and the insurer’s appointed actuaries, the publication added.
