According to Le Soir , nobody wants to insure the managers of Fortis anymore. That is why the “bank-insurer” decided to insure their managers themselves. Before the managers had their public liability insurance at the American insurer AIG, they were insured for a yearly amount of 225 million. But AIG cancelled the contract in October because it had financial problems themselves and at that time also Fortis was hit by the crisis.
Since the interruption Fortis tried to take out new insurances, but nobody wanted to insure them. So the Board of Directors came with the proposal to write in the regulations that the corporations will protect their managers against judgement connecting the tasks of management. They will be protect for a maximum amount of 100 million a year.
In Belgium it isn’t allowed to insure prior actions. So there is a gap for the managers that resign between the 10th of October and the 16th of February. In the Netherlands it is possible to insure actions from the past so it will be proposed on the congress.
My opinion is divided. For the managers it is indeed a good solution. They are still protected against judgement and have a public liability insurance. If Fortis didn’t came with this solution I really did not want to be a manager! It would be to risky for me. On the other side what if Fortis has to pay? They are already an insolvent company, when they will have to pay 100 million for each manager… For a multinational it maybe look a futility but not when they are in such a deep trouble. I read in the newspaper they will have to collect new money again!
De Ridder Steffie
The managers of Fortis are in deep trouble and it’s not even their fault. There is not one insurance company that still wants to insure them. Now the Fortis bank has decided they are going to insure their managers themselves. Normally AIG did this yearly for a very high amount of 225 millions. But because of the financial crisis and the financial troubles AIG had themselves, they’ve cancelled the contract and so Fortis had to come up with a solution for its managers. Since the cancelation of the contract with AIG, Fortis searched for new insurers, without success. So then they’ve taken the important decision to insure their managers themselves. The maximum amount is 100 million a year, which is obviously lower than the amount that AIG normally gave. But now it seems like this is the only way out for Fortis!
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThe financial crisis has hit everyone, but I think it’s a bit unfair to punish the managers of Fortis. It’s not their fault that the crisis is a fact. I believe that it’s Fortis’s duty to protect its managers. But I can also understand AIG when they say that insuring the managers of Fortis is a risk. It doesn’t go very well with this financial institution and if they lose all the money they’ve put into the bank, this would be very negative for AIG. In times of financial crisis everyone wants to guarantee the existence of their company, which I think is very logical!
Nathalie COUDEVILLE