Keane Unclaimed Property Specialists Announce Record Beneficiary Location Results

Keane, the country’s only comprehensive provider of unclaimed property consulting, unclaimed property reporting, and communication solutions, and a leading provider of specialized owner and beneficiary search services, today announced that its Legal Claimant Services Division increased successful heir and beneficiary location efforts in the first quarter of 2012 by more than 100 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. These figures reflect an influx in case volume from mutual funds, banks, and brokerage firms, as well as steady growth from the life insurance industry as insurers respond to recent audits and new state compliance laws that require them to locate and communicate with the beneficiaries of deceased policyholders.

“The first quarter data is strong evidence of growth in the overall market for owner and beneficiary location in the financial services arena,” said Michael J. O’Donnell, CEO of Keane. “It also highlights that with our investments in technology and research talent, we have the ability to rapidly scale our capacity to meet the market demand. We have built the strongest team of researchers, genealogical specialists, and trust and estate experts in the industry. These resources are what ultimately make the difference when we’re working against the clock to protect clients’ accounts from escheating.”

Challenges in beneficiary location and communication commonly stem from outdated addresses, missing data fields, inaccurate Social Security Numbers, and formatting variations. Unlike electronic search methods that cannot effectively address these issues, Keane utilizes a unique Synapse^SM methodology that couples detailed data rehabilitation capabilities with in-depth personal attention from highly-skilled professional researchers. This personalized approach allows Keane to reconnect with account beneficiaries two to three times more effectively than using electronic searches alone.

In addition to these challenges, the unclaimed property landscape for the insurance industry has become increasingly complex in recent years. Several states, specifically Alabama, Maryland, Tennessee, and New York, have proposed new laws based on a model created by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL).

On April 11, 2012, Kentucky became the first state to pass a law based on the NCOIL model, which stipulates that life insurance companies must perform a regular comparison between in-force life insurance policies and retained asset accounts against the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF) to identify matches with insureds. In the case of a match, the insurer must, within 90 days, complete a good faith effort to confirm the death of the insured and locate the beneficiary if benefits are due. If beneficiaries cannot be located, the benefits and any applicable accrued interest must be reported to the states as unclaimed property.

“Abiding by new rules surrounding the DMF is the first step, but compliance alone does not protect assets from escheatment,” noted Keane Vice President Barbara Blick. “Insurers now need to have processes in place to quickly analyze policy data and locate beneficiaries so they can facilitate claims and prevent account proceeds from becoming reportable as unclaimed property before it’s too late.”

Learn More About Keane’s Owner Location & Retention Services.

Keane has been rated the number one lost shareholder and asset recovery services firm for two years in a row by Group Five’s Shareholder Services Industry Satisfaction Report. For more information on Keane’s customized location and asset recovery programs, visit www.KeaneUP.com.