“I would like to apologize to all Fidelity Pension Plan participants for any delays experienced. While both the Cayman and Bahamas based teams have worked tirelessly to deal with the massive volumes of emails, calls and applications received, they were often overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of persons requiring assistance”.
Michael Anderson, CEO RF Group
(CMR) Fidelity Pension Plan has issued an apology to its members on the heels of the Department of Labour and Pensions confirming that they will be seeking criminal prosecution for pension administrators that have not been in compliance with the law.
Fidelity, unlike other pension administrators, admitted in the Public Accounts Committee earlier in the month that they would not be meeting the 45-day deadline prescribed in the law. At the time Brett Hill, CEO of Fidelity Bank (Cayman) as well as RF Cayman President and Country Head, jokingly shared that he expected to be incarcerated for some 3,000 days for non-compliance with the law. He partly blamed the Cayman Islands Government for not listening to him when he shared that he was unable to meet the 45-day deadline but realistically need 60 days instead. However, he promised that all May submissions would have been paid by the end of June.
Other pension administrators such as Silver Thatch and Chamber Pension appeared to have been well ahead of the game and paid out ahead of the deadline for most members.
The RF Group, which officially became the manager of the Fidelity Pension Plan on May 1 has now issued the apology and thanked pension members for their patience. Despite the group claiming that applications received before May 29 have now all been processed. However, many on social media continued complaining well into the later afternoon today that they have not yet received their money.
“The various processes required to facilitate the withdrawals created significant challenges for pension participants, pension regulators, and pension service providers,” he said, as he thanked those with Fidelity for their patience.
The issues have led to widespread speculation in the local community that Fidelity might be having some serious financial and CMR has received numerous requests about them filing for bankruptcy.
Back in February 2019, Royal Fidelity Merchant Bank & Trust Limited has announced that, as a result of a management-led buyout, RF Holdings Limited, a newly-formed Bahamian holding company, has agreed to acquire 100 percent of its issued and outstanding shares that were previously held on a 50/50 basis by RBC Royal Bank of Canada and Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited.
Any pension members who have not received an email communication or late payments in accordance with the law from any pension administrators should contact the Department of Labour and Pensions [email protected] to lodge an official complaint.
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