TIME is running out for NIB shareholders to claim their share of close to $2.5 million in dividends before the health insurer gives the jackpot to charity.
In what it says is an Australian corporate first, the Hunter-founded private health fund has changed its constitution to allow unclaimed dividends to be transferred to nib foundation, which helps charities to deliver community focused and well-being initiatives.
Unclaimed dividends were previously transferred to the Office of State Revenue under The Unclaimed Monies Act 1995, but in late 2017 nib shareholders backed the insurer’s move to transfer them to nib foundation.
There are about 9000 shareholders – more than 1400 of them in the Hunter – who have not claimed dividends totalling almost $2.5 million. The average unclaimed pool is $257 but one western Sydney shareholder is owed $14,600.
If shareholders don’t claim what is theirs before August 31, 2018, the monies will be transferred to the foundation.
NIB managing director Mark Fitzgibbon said the funds had remained unclaimed for a period of five years or more, despite nib’s best efforts to contact shareholders and pay them.
"We've worked hard to reconnect these shareholders with their unclaimed dividends, including by mail, via advertising in national newspapers, social media campaigns, and if they are a nib policyholder, reminding them when they contact us for a claim or query that they have outstanding dividends," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
"We don't want our shareholders to miss out on what's owing to them, which is why we're encouraging anyone who has owned NIB shares to contact us to check if they have dividends that can be claimed," he said.
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