The government has appointed Kirsty Cooper as industry champion for dormant assets.
Aviva's group general counsel and company secretary, Kirsty Cooper is now the insurance and pensions champion for the expanded dormant assets scheme, which is primarily designed to reunite financial services customers with their money.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport announced it had appointed her to the role today (4 June).
Ms Cooper said: "This is an opportunity to put unclaimed money to work for good causes.
"Since 2011, dormant assets schemes have already distributed hundreds of millions of pounds from unused bank and building society accounts, to benefit the most vulnerable people in our society.
"With appropriate safeguards in place for consumers, we should be able to expand the scheme to other assets such as life and pensions policies.
"Over recent years Aviva has run a number of programmes to re-unite customers with their unclaimed assets.
"Last year, it re-established contact with 133,000 lost customers and is now providing them with information about their policy and benefits."
Champions for the expanded dormant assets scheme will work with the financial services industry to improve reunification processes, develop appropriate definitions of dormancy and consider the practicalities of expanding the scheme in their sector.
Customers will continue to be able to reclaim lost assets at any time.
The Independent Dormant Assets Commission was set up in December 2015 to look at whether the dormant assets scheme, made up of bank and building society deposits, could be extended to other assets such as insurance products, stocks and shares, and pensions that have been classed as dormant.
Aviva supported the initiative and Ms Cooper served as the commissioner for life and pensions.
aamina.zafar@ft.com
