Christmas comes early for some Norwich Union customers
UK insurance giant Norwich Union has this evening confirmed plans to return up to £40 million of unclaimed life and pension policy assets to over 40,000 customers. The move has received widespread approval as some of these unclaimed policies date back to the 1950s. The company is currently handing back over £1 million a month to customers who have either changed address or disappeared off the radar and has plans to return a further £25 million to an additional 10,000 customers that have been traced by Assets Reunited, a tracing agency.
The UK insurance industry has for many years been criticised for holding onto these unclaimed assets amid claims that not enough was being done to locate and payout the sums in question to the underlying clients. This move by Norwich Union should hopefully instigate a similar move among other UK insurers where many tens of millions of pounds still remain unclaimed.
It is unclear whether pressure from the insurance regulator or a desire to finally clear their books has seen Norwich Union take today's action but whatever the reason Christmas is sure to come early for number of old Norwich Union customers.
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