Several liquidators have been appointed for Tahoe Life after a probe found violations at the insurer and its parent faced financial troubles.
Marcin Czarnocki of Deloitte Financial Advisory Ltd., Derek Lai and Forrest Kam of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as well as Oliver Cheng of Deloitte Advisory (Hong Kong) Limited have been appointed as liquidators of Tahoe Life, according to a statement by Hong Kong’s Insurance Authority (IA). The decision was made in a coordinated regulatory effort between the IA and the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).
«Since Tahoe Life is incorporated in Bermuda, the IA has all along been coordinating with the BMA on any regulatory actions against Tahoe Life,» said an IA spokesperson. «The appointment of the [Joint Provisional Liquidators] serves to ring-fence the assets of (rather than to wind up) Tahoe Life for protection of the policy holders’ interests.»
Regulatory Probe
The appointment follows a probe into the insurer over an illegal and unapproved HK$2.2 billion ($280 million) investment made by mainland Chinese developer Tahoe Group, whose chairman Huang Qisen indirectly controls Tahoe Life. The debt investment would later become worthless. The firm was also unable to issue financial reports in 2022 and 2023 and could not find a new buyer following financial troubles at its parent.
Since 2021, Tahoe Life has been banned from issuing new policies, restricted in its investments and prevented from trading with any company linked to Tahoe Group.
According to IA, Tahoe Life has around 90,000 life policies worth HK$18 billion, accounting for a market share of less than 1 percent.
