A sample public awareness poster for the unclaimed insurance benefits campaign. [Financial Services Commission]
A sample public awareness poster for the unclaimed insurance benefits campaign. [Financial Services Commission]

The Financial Services Commission announced Tuesday that it is joining forces with the Korea Life Insurance Association, the General Insurance Association of Korea and the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency to launch a major outreach campaign aimed at returning unclaimed insurance benefits to policyholders.

Unclaimed insurance benefits are payouts that have been approved but never collected by policyholders. In most cases, consumers are simply unaware that a benefit has been triggered, or do not realize that the interest accrual rate on uncollected funds decreases over time.

The total pool of unclaimed benefits has been shrinking each year. After reaching 12.4 trillion won ($8.55 billion) at the end of 2022, the figure fell to 12.1 trillion won by end-2023, then to 11.2 trillion won by end-2024, and further to 10.3 trillion won by the end of last year. Last year alone, 3.25 trillion won was refunded across 800,000 cases, with an average payout of 4.04 million won per case.

By category, mid-term insurance payouts accounted for the largest share at 1.9 trillion won, followed by maturity benefits at 1.14 trillion won, dormant insurance funds at 146.5 billion won and death benefits at 61.9 billion won.

The FSC said it will work with the Ministry of Interior and Safety to verify the latest contact information for policyholders, then begin sending individual notifications this month via mail, mobile electronic notices and phone calls. A broader public awareness campaign will also run in partnership with the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, including YouTube promotions, video broadcasts and giveaways.

This year, the FSC is placing particular emphasis on reaching elderly consumers who are less comfortable with digital financial services. The commission plans to boost accessibility for older adults through offline outreach, including live demonstrations of how to check for unclaimed benefits in partnership with consumer advocacy groups.

Consumers can look up and file claims for unclaimed benefits through the "Nae Boheom Chajajum" (find my insurance) website, jointly operated by the two insurance associations, after completing identity verification. The service allows users to check their own insurance coverage and also enables heirs to confirm the insurance contracts of a deceased policyholder.

Meanwhile, the FSC and the insurance industry built Nae Boheom Chajajum together in 2017, and its features have been upgraded several times since. In 2018, a direct link to insurers' online claims systems was added after a search, making the process significantly more convenient for consumers.


psj@heraldcorp.com