Since the floatation of Standard Life, almost 90 million shares are still left unclaimed. This figure represents 4.2 per cent of the total shareholding. In addition to the number of unclaimed shares, Standard Life has also revealed that there is just under £18 million in cash that is unclaimed. Both the shares and the cash are held in the Unclaimed Asset Trust.
Although there does seem to be a steady flow of people coming forward to make a claim for the shares or cash, Standard Life are urging shareholders to make their claim and make their money work for them. The closing date for all unclaimed shares and cash to be requested is July 2016. After that the proceeds of the unclaimed asset trust will be used for general purposes.
Our view
This is difficult. There are people who have died, people who have moved overseas as well as people who just cannot be bothered. 10 years is a reasonable time to hold assets in trust but we suggest they should publish the names and last known addresses of people that may be eligible and either allow access by professionals to view records or cross reference their data with either HM Revenue and Customs or any of the credit reference agencies such as Experian. This would solve some of the problem. We suggest though that as with many of the Banks orphaned assets, the Government will be happy to take it as public money at a later date.