Around $65 million of life insurance policies payouts remain unclaimed according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which is urging people to check if the funds belong to them.
ASIC said the $64.6 million of unclaimed life insurance policies were part of a $1.2 billion pool of unclaimed monies held in banks accounts, life insurance policies and shares and other investments.
While NSW has the largest pool of unclaimed insurance policies at $26 million, followed by Victoria with $16 million and Queensland with $10 million, the collective unclaimed insurance sums are relatively small compared to unclaimed bank accounts at $483 million and $299 million held in unclaimed shares and other investments.
ASIC said it has records of unclaimed money going back to 1952 for life insurance companies and back to 2000 for friendly societies.
The corporate regulator also stated it held money from life insurance policies, issued by an insurer or friendly society, which has remained unclaimed for seven years after the policy matures and will be required to hold it for three years from 31 December 2015 after the law was changed.
After that time the unclaimed funds are transferred to the Commonwealth with ASIC Deputy Chair, Peter Kell stating the funds can still be claimed by the rightful owners.
“Unclaimed money is transferred to the Commonwealth after it’s been unclaimed usually for seven years. The unclaimed money is managed by ASIC, it’s always claimable by the rightful owner and there’s no time limit on claims. Last financial year, over $158m was paid out to more than 25,000 people,” Kell said.
