Posted on Monday, 28th November 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

As you may know, in December of 2010 Venio LLC acquired The Keane Organization to form the premier unclaimed property firm in the country, now known in the marketplace simply as “Keane”.  Although The Keane Organization had been a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) for more than 20 years, the “new” Keane was required to reapply for accreditation with the BBB in the New York Metropolitan area, where the combined company is headquartered. Now that the Keane unclaimed property review is complete, we are happy to announce that we received our accreditation and an A+ rating from the BBB.  CEO Mike O’Donnell credits the success to the quality of services provided by the Legal Claimant Services division to heirs, beneficiaries and estate representatives.

Keane’s A+ rating is a result of the following factors:

• Business’ complaint history with BBB.
• Type of business.
• Time in business.
• Background information on business in BBB files.
• Failure to honor commitments to BBB.
• Advertising issues known to BBB.
• Potential advertising issues identified by BBB.

Read More »

Posted on Friday, 18th November 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Last week, Keane Senior Manager Pam Wentz and Vice President Scott Regan spoke at the Tax Executive Institute’s Philadelphia Chapter Conference on state and local tax trends and strategies. In an effort to further educate tax professionals about the implications of taxes and unclaimed property, Pam’s presentation was focused on federal and state rules and regulations, the current state of unclaimed property affairs, obligations of businesses when it comes to reporting, and the different types of audits companies can face for failure to fully report unclaimed property obligations – or failure to report them at all. Pam also outlined best practices businesses can follow to minimize audit risk and liabilities.

While unclaimed property isn’t considered a tax, it often falls within the purview of the tax department. Unclaimed property looks like a tax because there is an annual filing requirement governed by state law. It feels like a tax because unclaimed property compliance requires ongoing monitoring of changes in laws and regulations making taxes and unclaimed property reporting more complex than ever. Therefore, to ensure that companies are safe from an audit and in full compliance, tax executives and their departments need to have a firm grasp on current rules and regulations as well as the reporting process.

Read More »

Posted on Monday, 10th October 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

L-R, Val Jundt, Keane Managing Director Consulting & Advisory Services with Frederick Stollsteimer, Director of Unclaimed Property and Lindsay Caldonetti, Holder Compliance Specialist for the Commonwealth of PA

With the regulatory landscape constantly changing and evolving, unclaimed property compliance reporting is becoming more complex than ever for businesses and financial institutions. In order to keep businesses aware of these changes and to ensure that they are knowledgeable about the reporting process, Keane partnered with the Pennsylvania Treasury Department to host an Unclaimed Property Compliance Forum at the Courtyard Marriott in Philadelphia.

The forum, led by Valerie M. Jundt, Managing Director of Keane’s National Consulting & Advisory Services group and representatives from the Pennsylvania Treasury Department’s Bureau of Unclaimed Property, focused on unclaimed property compliance requirements and regulatory updates with additional emphasis on businesses incorporated in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Topics covered in the forum included new laws impacting 2011-2012 compliance reporting, current trends in multi-state audits, industry-specific hot-buttons, best practices for tracking and reuniting owners with their funds, implementing sufficient policies and procedures, and reporting requirements and compliance challenges unique to Pennsylvania.

Read More »

Posted on Friday, 23rd September 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

According to September 2011 survey results recently released by Keane, unclaimed property service quality is at the highest levels since the survey program was initiated in 2003. According to responses from more than 700 customers (specifically, the legal claimants that have used Keane’s asset recovery services) Keane received a 98% overall satisfaction rating. Further, 98% of customers would recommend Keane’s services to others. For the eighth year in a row, there were very few complaints and many accolades for Keane’s account management team members who help guide customers through the asset recovery process.

These encouraging results come on the heels of Keane earning the top spot in the 2011 Shareholder Services Industry Satisfaction Report conducted by Group 5, a New Jersey-based consulting and corporate services research company. Keane received the #1 rating for lost shareholder and asset recovery services firms for the second year in a row.

Read More »

Posted on Monday, 19th September 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Keane CEO Mike O’Donnell announces the company’s top rating at Client Connection 2011

Keane recently received advanced confirmation that we were rated the #1 lost shareholder and asset recovery services firm for the second year in a row by Group 5’s 2011 Shareholder Services Industry Satisfaction Report.

Group Five is a Princeton, NJ-based consulting and corporate services research company. They conduct this annual study by surveying US corporate managers regarding their satisfaction with shareholder services provided by transfer agents and other service providers like Keane. Over 1,000 companies participated in the 2011 study. Keane received advanced notice of our top rating, but Group Five will be issuing a press release and full summary report of the study within the next week. (Update: Group Five officially announced the results of their 2011 report on October 4th. Click here to view their press release.)

Read More »

Posted on Thursday, 1st September 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Tax professionals may not think that unclaimed property compliance falls within their department’s jurisdiction – however, more often than not, it does. Even though unclaimed property laws are not tax laws, they are close cousins. Unclaimed property looks like a tax because there is an annual filing requirement governed by state law. It also feels like a tax because compliance requires ongoing monitoring of changes in laws and regulations. And for these reasons, the tax department is generally actively involved in – and ultimately responsible for – unclaimed property compliance.

In a recent article in Tax Executive titled, “Unclaimed Property Compliance: A Tax Department Responsibility?” Laura Lane, Senior Manager at Keane, outlined the role tax professionals play in the unclaimed property compliance process. She outlines several best practices tax professionals can adopt to enhance their company’s compliance level. These include identifying potential outstanding liabilities and working with management to preemptively resolve them, assisting management in developing a corporate policy regarding due diligence, reconciling accounts to prevent overpayment, documenting an annual compliance roadmap, and monitoring and tracking regulatory changes.

Read More »

Posted on Thursday, 25th August 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

A note of warning to clients of Keane, unclaimed property complaints and concerns have grown over the last several weeks. The cause is a very prominent email scam that has been showing up across the country.   If you’ve been tuning into Good Morning America you may already have seen information about the scam that’s underway.

Or perhaps you have recently received one of the suspect emails which promise to reunite you with unclaimed money? Essentially the scammer is trying to lure people to respond under the guise that they have millions in unclaimed funds. Consumers from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Nevada, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio and Louisiana have all reported encountering these fraudulent promises of millions in unclaimed property.

Read More »

Posted on Monday, 1st August 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

In the last year, the spotlight has been on the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. Part of that bill includes proposed amendments to SEC Rule 17Ad-17 that will extend requirements in the handling of lost shareholders and unclaimed property to the previously exempt broker/dealer community. The proposed Rule would require broker/dealers to exercise reasonable care in finding lost security holders. Once a holder is considered lost, the broker/dealer would be required to search for a new address for the account holder.

In its current state, the proposed rule promises to create five major points of impact on the broker/dealer community. The five challenges are: Read More »

Posted on Wednesday, 13th April 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Signed into law in July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act directed the SEC to publicize rules implementing its measures.  The following is the summary of the SEC’s proposed rules which were published in the Federal Register on March 18, 2011, regarding required changes to Regulation 17Ad-17:

Read More »

Posted on Wednesday, 30th March 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Proposed on February 17, 2011 and passed on March 25, 2011, HB 174 marks the first major unclaimed property legislation passage of 2011. The bill makes two major changes to securities reporting in Idaho: (1) the dormancy trigger will now be a combination of inactivity and RPO, instead of pure inactivity, and (2) the requirements for reporting dividend reinvestment program accounts (DRP accounts) are now clearly spelled out.. More details are provided below.

Previously, Idaho only recognized pure inactivity as a dormancy trigger for securities. Under HB 174, any stock, shareholding or other intangible ownership interest in a business association is “considered” abandoned if the owner of such interest (1) fails to either claim a dividend, distribution, or other sum payable or communicate with the association regarding the interest or a dividend, distribution; and (2) the location of the owner is unknown at the end of the five (5) year dormancy period.

Read More »