Regional insurance provider Guardian Holdings Ltd has settled more than 70 per cent of insurance claims arising from Hurricane Melissa, Group CEO Ian Chinapoo said last Friday.
“So, as of June, we were in the region of 70 per cent. I think we’re approaching 75 to 80 per cent now, but of course we’ll update more exactly at the next briefing,” Chinapoo said of the Jamaican operations.
The disclosure, made during NCB Financial Group’s (NCBFG) investor briefing, comes as policyholders and the industry’s regulator continue to press for faster claims resolution eight months after the Category 5 storm devastated western Jamaica. Chinapoo attributed the pace of settlement to the industry’s shared reliance on independent loss adjusters, saying insurers require adjusters’ reports before claims can be processed and submitted to reinsurers. He described the bottleneck as an industry-wide challenge rather than one specific to Guardian, which is part of NCBFG.
To address the delay, Guardian has introduced a new product in its northern territories, including Jamaica, which allows the company to provide property damage estimates without waiting on loss adjusters for every claim. Chinapoo said the product is intended to reduce reliance on external adjusters and speed up settlement. It will be piloted next in Trinidad, and Guardian intends to expand the approach across its markets.
IronRock Insurance reported similar progress in an August 7 Gleaner report, saying it had substantially concluded 95 per cent of Hurricane Melissa claims for policies where it is sole or lead insurer as at July 31, with the remaining claims tied mainly to co-insurance placements coordinated by other lead insurers.
Guardian’s update comes a week after the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the Insurance Association of Jamaica (IAJ), the Jamaica Insurance Brokers Association (JIBA) and the Loss Adjusters’ Association of Jamaica issued a joint statement committing to accelerate the resolution of outstanding Melissa claims. The IAJ said member companies remain “committed to fast-tracking low-complexity claims, targeting settlements of major eligible claims by end of September 2026”. JIBA said it was supporting the industry’s objective of “settling the vast majority of Hurricane Melissa claims, excluding complex and litigated matters, by the end of September 2026”.
It is the second such statement from the FSC on Melissa claims. In July, the regulator disclosed it had opened a review into complaints about insurance settlements and how insurers were applying the industry’s average clause — a provision that reduces claim payouts in proportion to underinsurance — in Melissa-related cases.
carolyn.guniss@rjrgleaner.com
