Aruba’s appeal court has set the total NAGICO insurance fine at Afl. 4,276,875 after reviewing penalties imposed by the Central Bank of Aruba.
The ruling concerns NAGICO Life Insurance (Aruba) N.V. and NAGICO Aruba N.V. According to 24ora’s report on the September 23 judgment, the amount is divided equally between the two companies, with each responsible for Afl. 2,138,437.50.
Appeal court confirms 19 regulatory violations
The case began with a Central Bank of Aruba decision dated February 22, 2023. The regulator initially imposed combined administrative penalties of Afl. 5,928,750 for 19 violations of Aruba’s insurance supervision rules and related corporate-governance and business-integrity requirements.
The reported violations included the absence of an integrity-risk analysis and a compliance officer, insufficient ongoing screening for sensitive positions, weaknesses in supervisory-board oversight, and shortcomings involving information-technology risk management and user-access controls.
The appeal court concluded that the 19 violations had been established and that the Central Bank had the authority to impose administrative penalties. It also rejected the insurers’ argument that the process violated the principle protecting parties from being compelled to incriminate themselves.
Final amount reflects proportionality reductions
Aruba’s Court of First Instance had reduced the combined penalty to Afl. 2.195 million in January 2025. That court treated several violations as closely connected and applied reductions related to the duration of the investigation and proceedings. Both sides appealed that outcome.
On appeal, the higher court found that the Central Bank’s anti-accumulation policy should be applied to prevent the combined sanctions from becoming disproportionate. The calculation included an additional 25% reduction on that basis, along with reductions of 10% for the companies’ demonstrated willingness to improve and 15% for their financial capacity.
After those adjustments and a further Afl. 5,000 reduction for the proceedings exceeding a reasonable timeframe, the court fixed the combined penalty at Afl. 4,276,875. The outcome partially upheld the Central Bank’s appeal while leaving the insurers with a substantially higher amount than the penalty set by the lower court.
