Mr. Gabriel Makhlouf:

This is a very important and live issue. It involves a number of different divisions in the Central Bank, not just insurance supervision. The bank and I have been very clear and we wrote to chief executives a while ago setting out our expectations of how the industry and financial service providers as a whole should respond, in particular insurance companies.

The policies on business interruption insurance come broadly in three types. In the first category, there are some policies where there is no entitlement to business interruption insurance. In the second category, there are policies where there is absolutely an entitlement to business interruption insurance. In those circumstances, we have made it very clear that we expect the companies to pay up. We do not expect them to drag things out. There is a third category of policies where it is unclear whether there is an entitlement to cover. There is a difference between entitlement to cover and the quantum that may be payable, if there is entitlement. There is a group of policies where it is unclear and legal action is being taken right now by some entities which are challenging the non-payment of what they claim are valid policies.

We have been closely involved in terms of observing what is going on, looking at the contracts, making our own assessment, taking legal advice and talking to the insurance company that is involved in this case. We have made a number of interventions and those are continuing. The objective of our actions is to ensure clarity for affected businesses as quickly as possible. We are pursuing a multipronged approach, which we believe is the most effective way forward in terms of producing clarity. I cannot talk about the interventions we have made, which are extremely live, because we are in the public domain but I can assure the committee that we are focused on this issue. We want to see a rapid resolution and clarity for all businesses who are looking for greater certainty.