Life insurers based in New York have already made $52.6 million in payments to 7,934 beneficiaries as a result of the New York Department of Financial Services' probe of insurer unclaimed property practices.
In announcing the initial results, Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the DFS, warned that with the initial 8,000 matches resulting in $52 million for beneficiaries, even if a small percentage of the one million preliminary matches result in payments, the total amount of payments could be huge.
"The Department's review makes it clear that life insurers should regularly match life insurance policies against a comprehensive death list, rather than just wait for claims to be filed," Lawsky said.
Lawsky's announcement, made in early December, did not mention a parallel probe announced in early November by New York's attorney general and comptroller of the same issue.
The payments are the first result of a July 5 order by Lawsky for all 172 insurance companies and fraternal to check their records and report back to the DFS by Oct. 31 regarding their policies for dealing with unclaimed insurance policies and annuities.
