In many cases, particularly with life insurance policies, insurers are often unable to trace beneficiaries who are due a payout because their contact details have not been updated, or the beneficiaries are not aware that they are even listed as a policy beneficiary.

Life insurers were sitting with unclaimed assets of as much as R33.5-billion last year. This mindboggling figure encompassed insurance policies and investment policies that beneficiaries, heirs and investors failed to claim.

According to the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa, the assets were held in 77,790 risk policies, savings and investment policies, annuity policies and accounts in Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) portfolios such as unit trust funds.

In many cases, particularly with life insurance policies, insurers are often unable to trace beneficiaries who are due a payout because their contact details have not been updated, or the beneficiaries are not aware that they are even listed as a policy beneficiary.

Rosemary Lightbody, a senior policy adviser at Asisa, says that at the beginning of 2021, Asisa members were faced with tracing the legal owners of R32.3-billion in unclaimed assets. Tracing efforts initially reduced this amount by R22.7-billion to R9.6-billion, but then another R23.8-billion of assets across...