Continue to the sound of millions the awakening of dormant policies, a sea of contracts that have expired, never been collected and therefore at risk of prescription. In his latest monthly newsletter, the Insurance Supervisory Institute (Ivass) announces that it has unearthed dormant policies for 492 million euro: they were parked in the archives of foreign companies active in Italy. Almost 80% of the sum (400 million) has already been paid to the beneficiaries.
“It's about over 23 life policies which, for various reasons, had not been paid to the beneficiaries and which remained with the insurance companies - explains the Authority in a note - IVASS, continuing the investigation which has already led to the awakening of policies held by Italian companies for a value of around 4 billion euro, collaborated in this case with the Supervisory Authorities of the companies' countries of origin in order to acquire data from foreign companies".
Problem solved? Not exactly. "Some legal difficulties still need to be overcome - continues IVASS - which have not allowed for the time being to complete the investigation into insurance companies headquartered in Luxembourg who operate in Italy without permanent headquarters".
In "reviving" policies, IVASS also reminded foreign companies of the need "to adopt procedures that allow for up-to-date information on policyholders and any policy beneficiaries", concludes the note.
We remind you that, by law, the beneficiary of a Life policy – whether it is a contract to cover the death of the insured or an investment product – has time 10 years to collect the money. The term begins when the event covered by the policy occurs, ie the death of the policyholder or the expiry of the investment product. If after 10 years no one has presented to collect, the insurance companies must pay the money to the Dormant Relations Fund of Consap, the public insurance services concessionaire, a company 100% controlled by the Ministry of Economy.
To find out more about dormant policies, read our guide.
