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FNB Life has identified over R160m worth of unclaimed policies on its books, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The bank has, therefore, started an initiative to proactively identify customers who have not submitted claims in the past. It wants to track down nominated beneficiaries, family members or the next of kin.
The bank will do this by proactively accessing and analysing data from the Department of Home affairs to identify potential beneficiaries and pay out what is due to them.
To date, over R5m has been paid across different products to nominated beneficiaries who had no idea that the policies existed before they were traced. The highest claim identified was R3.6m for life cover and R100 000 for funeral cover.
Lee Bromfield, CEO of FNB Life, says it is concerning and unfair that consumers who have spent their hard-earned cash paying insurance premiums have to lose out on claims due to insurers not being able to contact their loved ones or beneficiaries not being aware of the policies.
Many insurers place the onus on the insured to ascertain that beneficiary details are always up to date to pay out a claim, according to Bromfield.
One of the common reasons that often prevent insurers from being able to pay out claims is the failure to submit a valid claim and the inability to contact beneficiaries due to incomplete, missing, outdated or inaccurate information.
It is also essential that policy holders actively inform all their beneficiaries and family members whenever they take out cover, Bromfield added.
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