By John Allan, Head of Innovation & Operations, The Investment Association
Estimates suggest there may be up to £1.4bn in dormant assets across the investment and wealth management sector – some of which will be made up of lost investments, misplaced pensions and forgotten saving accounts.
Talk Money Week 2024 (4-8 November) aims to break down barriers and make it easier for people to have conversations about money and finances – this November, the Investment Association is urging people to spread the word about unclaimed assets and encourage people to use its online portal to track down their missing money. Over £500k has been successfully reunited with customers so far.
John Allan, Head of Innovation & Operations at the Investment Association, commented: “It’s always an idea to keep in touch with the companies managing your finances, but life does sometimes get in the way. If you find yourself in the position of having lost contact, you should collate as much information and documentation as possible – such as statements or contract notes – which will contain important reference numbers to help the company locate the account. If this has been lost, don’t worry – companies will usually still have your details.
“Try to contact the company over the phone as its sometimes easier to talk it through, or send them a copy of the documents. Once an account has been found, the company needs to make sure you are who you say you are, and so you may need to provide proof of identity or, where relevant, your eligibility to act on the original investor’s behalf. In many cases, especially as investments are usually bought with the intention of being held for a long period of time, the original company may have changed name or been acquired by another, in which case it may help to search online to see which company now has the account. As many firms place information on their dormant accounts on our Unclaimed Assets Portal, registering your details here provides a good way of locating your account even if you don’t know which company currently holds it.
“The Portal, powered by Gretel, is a free online platform and checks your details with existing records from financial services companies looking for customers they have lost touch with. It’s really simple to access the portal – once you’ve signed up for an account, the platform will use your details to check your address history against any accounts registered in its system. It will let you know immediately if there is a match, and once you’ve registered runs searches every 14 days to keep you updated when new data is added. To maximise the chance of finding a match you can add more information to your profile including any name changes or your national insurance number. To date, over half a million pounds has been reunited via the Investment Association’s platform, with an average of £23,000 reunited for each successful match.”
