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FNB Life has proactively paid out its biggest claim to date, valued at R 6 million, for a customised Life insurance policy. The claim was proactively triggered by the FNB Life’s routine policyholder check, followed by a trace of the beneficiary.
Through the Department of Home Affairs, FNB Life routinely checks via the National Population Registry if any of its policyholders are deceased. The pre-emptive claims process pays-out an average of R 8.2 million to beneficiaries per month with over R174 million in pre-emptive paid to date.
Lee Bromfield, CEO of FNB Life, says, “This specific policy was only active for 5 months, and our team worked diligently on tracing the beneficiary to inform them about the policy and helped them to compile the necessary claims documentation for the pay-out to be processed. Often, the beneficiaries of these policies aren’t aware of the benefit, so through our pre-emptive claims system, we are able to initiate the claim on their behalf. Over the years, this has saved families against financial hardship after losing their loved ones who may be bread-winners.”
FNB says, however, tracking beneficiaries comes with its own challenges, one being the inability to trace policy beneficiaries due to incorrect or insufficient information.
The Bank says in most cases, the insurer has had to work off a name or initial and surname with no date of birth, ID number or contact details.
Another hindrance is the fact that potential beneficiaries refuse to provide their details when contacted to avoid being scammed.
FNB says customers must ensure that they provide the correct beneficiary information and are constantly reviewing their policy details to ensure that they’re all up to date.
