Norwich Union to reunite customers with forgotten assets

Norwich Union, Britain’s biggest insurer, is planning to reunite people with unclaimed assets of £40 million. The money is held in life and pension schemes dating as far back as the 1950s, many of which were held with companies that have merged with Norwich Union and its subsidiaries.

These include CGU, Commercial Union, General Accident, Hibernian, London & Edinburgh Insurance Group, North British & Mercantile Insurance Company, Provident Mutual, Scottish Union and the Yorkshire Insurance Company.

In early 2007, Norwich Union launched a ‘Find the fisherman’ campaign, through which it reunited around 4,000 fishermen with almost £2.5 million. The insurer now hopes to use the same process for the 40,000 customers whose assets appear to have been forgotten.

Mark Hodges, chief executive, said the ‘Find the fisherman’ campaign was extremely successful in reuniting fishermen who were entitled to claim a pension.

Mr Hodges added that they are quite simply asking customers to come and collect what is theirs. He added that unclaimed assets are common across the whole industry. He said people can often lose track of insurance policies and money, particularly when moving house or job.

The move comes ahead of a government proposal to use unclaimed deposits in bank and building society accounts for charitable purposes in a Bill expected in December.

Norwich Union said the timing of its plans to reunite customers with their unclaimed assets ahead of any legislation was merely a coincidence.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Norwich Union to reunite customers with forgotten assets