Company Announcement - FNB Life, theinsurance distribution and administration arm of First National Bank says being granted access to the Department of Home Affairs’ National Population Registry is significantly benefitting its funeral policyholders and their beneficiaries. The statement follows an update by the Department of Home Affairs, which said it enabled insurance providers to verify the status of claimants on the National Population Register.
 
Lee Bromfield, CEO of FNB Life says this has been an important development for the insurance industry and consumers in general. “The collaboration helps us to efficiently monitor funeral insurance lapses and also reduce identity fraud. It is now easier to check if policyholders are deceased or alive, and once we establish that a policyholder is deceased, we proactively contact the listed beneficiaries to process their pay-out.
 
“We have identified approximately R2 million in potential claims that beneficiaries haven’t submitted, and of those we could contact, R300 000 in claims has been paid to beneficiaries who didn’t know their loved ones had funeral policies with us.” FNB Life says currently, claimants no longer have to submit death certificates as these can be accessed much quicker through the National Population Register. This vastly improves the speed at which beneficiaries are paid-out for valid funeral insurance claims. “Currently, half of our claims are being paid within a day and we have drastically improved the detection of fraudulent claims. In less than a year, we have prevented fraudulent claims worth over R700 000 through this collaboration and other internal measures.”
 
Bromfield says even though FNB Life can now use the Registry to verify certain information, it is important for policyholders to keep updating their contact details and those of their beneficiaries. He says up-to-date contact numbers and email addresses are crucial in ensuring that that policies are paid-out faster, to help families avoid financial distress.