Posted on Friday, 3rd February 2012 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Maryland recently became the third state to propose legislation similar to the NCOIL Model Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Act, requiring insurance companies to conduct Death Master File (DMF) searches to proactively identify deceased policy owners. Meanwhile, a US Representative has introduced a bill to Congress that would prevent the Social Security Administration (SSA) from making the information in the DMF public. As a result, the House of Representatives conducted a panel hearing this week to discuss the validity and proper use of the DMF. The DMF and its use continue to be a point of discussion, and various opinions are sure to be heard in the coming weeks.

“While the Death Master File is certainly a valuable source of information, it should not be treated as gospel. The SSA itself has noted that there is incorrect information contained within the DMF,” said Keane’s Chief Compliance Officer, Debbie Zumoff. “Just because you get a positive hit when searching an owner’s SSN in the Death Master File does not mean you should move forward with a definitive action on the account or policy. Another step of research or due diligence is always recommended to truly verify that the person is deceased.”

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Posted on Monday, 30th January 2012 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Recently, Val Jundt, Keane’s Managing Director of Consulting and Advisory Services, had the opportunity to sit down with the National Association of Credit Management (NACM) and give a few pointers on reporting unclaimed property. Val notes some of the more common mistakes in unclaimed property compliance, as well as some hints for companies that have not previously reported unclaimed property. You can read the entire article from the NACM by clicking here or read more below.

The article below is from the National Association of Credit Management Blog.

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Posted on Wednesday, 25th January 2012 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

The recent settlement between Prudential and 19 states resolved auditors’ inquiries into use of the Death Master File (DMF) and guidelines on beneficiary location for deceased policy owners. While Prudential is the second life insurance company to agree to such a settlement, they will not pay a fine and have denied any wrongdoing.

In the official agreement release, Prudential notes that “in view of the complex issues raised,” there is “the probability that long-term litigation and/or administrative proceedings would be required to resolve the disputes.” As a result of the settlement, Prudential has agreed to enhance its unclaimed property policies to include incomplete or missing social security numbers, transposed letters in first and last names, or transposed digits in birth dates and social security numbers. Prudential’s Chief Communications Officer, Robert DeFillippo, noted that these improvements “will supplement Prudential’s extensive prior efforts” to identify decedents and locate beneficiaries of life insurance policies. Read More »

Posted on Friday, 20th January 2012 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

In recent months, the life insurance industry has experienced an increased level of scrutiny, as two individual states have proposed legislation that mandates stronger beneficiary location requirements, as well as the use of the Social Security Administration Death Master File (DMF) to identify deceased policy holders and potential decedents. Despite many proposals and discussions, there is still debate around the question of when an insurer is obligated to pay out any benefits. However, insurers such as John Hancock and Prudential have reached settlements with various states to establish a process for identifying deceased owners and paying out policies to the beneficiaries who had not previously contacted the insurers. If unable to locate beneficiaries within the allotted timeframes, the companies are required to report the policy proceeds to the states as unclaimed property.

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Posted on Friday, 12th November 2010 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Did you know that normal business and life events can create circumstances that generate unclaimed property compliance obligations? It’s true and it can put your client relationships and assets under management at risk. Here at Keane Unclaimed Property, we work to make sure that this doesn’t happen by outlining ways in which your company can remain complaint throughout the year allowing you to continuously build relationships, not break them.

In a recent article titled “Unclaimed Property: Are You at Risk,” featured in the November/December issue of Practice Management Solutions, Dorothy Flynn, CEO at Keane Unclaimed Property, talks about some of the common red flags organizations should become familiar with in order to protect their clients and companies. The red flags include address accuracy, client’s life status, account activity and overall data quality. Read More »

Posted on Thursday, 2nd September 2010 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Are you interested in cost risks of unclaimed property compliance in Arizona?

Here you will find valuable knowledge pertaining to Arizona State escheat and unclaimed property laws.

Should there be a specific question that we fail to answer here, we’re ready and willing to provide our insight.  To submit your inquiry and get more information, fill out this brief form below or get in touch directly with the Arizona Unclaimed Property Unit.

Aspects of Arizona Unclaimed Property and Escheatment Law

Listed here are several aspects of Arizona unclaimed property and escheatment law to keep in mind in order to avoid interest and penalties: Read More »

Posted on Wednesday, 28th July 2010 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

At this point, you probably know that many organizations are carrying unclaimed property and are in danger of  escheat audits. But why do companies seem to be so willing to risk non-compliance? While many companies are aware of unclaimed property compliance requirements, some will just wait until they get hit with an escheat audit to do anything. Others understand the risk, but do not want to allocate the time or resources needed to proactively define their liability and reduce it.  And some are simply uninformed of their compliance obligations.

Debbie Zumoff, Chief Compliance Officer at Keane Unclaimed Property, recently spoke with John Cummings, Editor of Business Finance and Author of the BizTaxBuzz Blog, about escheat audits and why they seem to be in the future of so many companies.  Click here to read the whole post. 

Two of the downsides to not reporting unclaimed property are penalties and interest, which can quickly add up and even double the amount of underlying liability. For most companies, this can mean big losses. However, there are number of audit risk red flags that companies can look out for when it comes to unclaimed property. These include not reporting all property types, using inappropriate dormancy triggers, failing to perform state-mandated due diligence and many others. If companies are aware of these red flags upfront and keep them in mind when it’s time to file unclaimed property each year, they can better prepare for and defend against escheat audits and significantly reduce risk to their organization.

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Posted on Monday, 26th October 2009 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

In an ongoing effort to educate finance, accounting and compliance departments about their company’s unclaimed property risks, Keane Unclaimed Property is offering a unique opportunity to connect directly with Keane Unclaimed Property’s subject matter experts. An online Audit Risk Assessment is being made available to those who are interested in a way to evaluate their risk and receive tips on prevention.

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Posted on Tuesday, 29th September 2009 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

I recently learned about some interesting statistics regarding Delaware’s abandoned property law that helps illustrate what unclaimed property means to state budgets. It also shows why companies are facing an increased risk of unclaimed or abandoned property audit.

This is an issue I have discussed in the past - as the states face tighter budgets and decreasing revenue, they have looked to other sources, like unclaimed property reporting and audit proceeds, to help make up the difference. It is a risk that can have a material impact on your company’s cash flow and financial well-being.

My colleague at Keane Unclaimed Property, Laura Lane, shared with me the information that was recently disclosed by the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC). DEFAC meets six times a year to set forecasts for the State’s finances and shares the minutes of those meetings online.

The minutes of the the June 15, 2009 meeting were recently posted and contain some interesting insights into how the abandoned property law impacts the state budget. For example, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010, the forecast for “Abandoned Property” increased from $330 million to $350 million. Additionally, the minutes indicate that the $20 million increase is attributable to the settlement of ONE large case. Large indeed!

This makes unclaimed property or abandoned property the third largest source of revenue for the State of Delaware. It is not just a large contributor to the state’s revenue – its one of THE largest and most significant.

It’s a harsh reality for companies that are incorporated in Delaware – the ones that are most at risk. It’s not clear exactly where the state thinks the money will come from, but it is difficult to imagine that they could maintain and grow the amount of money collected year-over-year without continuing to aggressively enforce their statutes through audits (and assessing fines and penalties). This is a clear illustration of why companies must be well prepared by reporting properly on an annual basis and ensuring that they have identified and corrected any accounting practices that would raise the eyebrows of the auditors.

While you may not be aware of your vulnerabilities, the states are. They’re so confident that it’s in the budget.

Go from DE Abandoned Property Law back to the blog

Go to the Keane HOMEPAGE

Posted on Tuesday, 15th September 2009 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

This post by Gail Warner, President of Keane Unclaimed Property, appeared on Keane Unclaimed Property’s corporate blog, “KeaneObservations” written by Peter Teuten, Keane Unclaimed Property’s risk management expert.

I’m picking up where Peter left off last week regarding the topic of unclaimed property audit and how it relates to risk management and compliance.

The words audit and risk go hand in hand. The word “audit” alone makes anyone in a corporate finance or risk management department cringe and begin vigorous preparations (and palpitations!). But in the case of an unclaimed property audit, that natural reaction tends to be a mix of confusion and uncertainty. It’s much more important now that companies understand the drivers of unclaimed property risk because audits are on the rise. Depending on state laws (and the extent of some state’s budget woes), unclaimed property offers states an attractive source of alternate capital (you see, much of the money states collect from companies is often used on state programs that would otherwise not happen or would require the use of additional tax dollars).

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