AMP is searching for 43,000 "lost" shareholders - many of them likely to be retirees - to connect them with their shares and $13 million in unclaimed dividends.
The company said most were "mum and dad" policy holders who were given shares when AMP and National Mutual demutualised in the 1990s.
They went missing after their postal address, bank account or email address was no longer valid.
To help make claims, AMP has launched a website that allows people to call up their date of birth to see if they or a family member own a stake in the company.
Financial advisers, solicitors and tax agents can also check to see if a client owns shares.
To search, go to findmyampshares.com.au.
WHAT HAPPENED?
AMP said there were many possible reasons for shareholders losing touch, including:
- They have forgotten they own shares.
- They divorced or moved home and didn't update their contact details.
- Their physical address may have changed (for example, some roadside mailboxes in rural areas are no longer valid postal addresses).
- They were service personnel whose only point of contact was their former base.
FACT FILE
- The average lost shareholder is a 63-year-old male, living - or having lived - in NSW (12,000), Victoria (10,000) and Queensland (6700).
- 22,000 lost shareholders have unclaimed dividends waiting for them to collect, with an average dividend windfall of $600. One shareholder hasn't claimed $25,000 in dividends.
- One lost shareholder has 68,000 shares under their name.
- More than 3200 shareholdings are jointly held.
- 4400 of the lost shareholders have died, meaning 3.4 million shares and dividends are waiting to be transferred to beneficiaries.
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