JSE looks to match $240m unclaimed dividends with claimants
TLDR
- The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is addressing the issue of unclaimed financial assets in South Africa, including unclaimed dividends.
- The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) found approximately R88.56 billion in unclaimed assets, with R4.5 billion ($240 million) in unclaimed dividends.
- The JSE's initiative aims to reconnect individuals with their unclaimed benefits by streamlining the process and improving transparency and efficiency in the financial markets.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is set to tackle the issue of unclaimed financial assets in South Africa, particularly unclaimed dividends among local investors. This initiative comes in response to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority's (FSCA) 2022 discussion paper.
The FSCA report revealed an estimated R88.56 billion in unclaimed assets, with over R4.5 billion ($240 million) in unclaimed dividends. The JSE's nationwide initiative aims to match claimants with their unclaimed dividends, addressing the challenge of unclaimed financial entitlements.
The primary focus is on identifying and reconnecting individuals with unclaimed or 'lost' benefits, often resulting from outdated or limited information about the owners or holders of shares. The effort seeks to streamline the process of reuniting investors with their rightful financial assets, contributing to greater transparency and efficiency in the financial markets.
Key Takeaways
The initiative will begin with a shareholder education drive that will inform the public on how dividends work, the ways unclaimed dividends could arise, how individuals can verify whether unclaimed shares and dividends are due to them from listed companies that are participating in the initiative, and how to update their shareholder information. JSE Investor Services (JIS), a subsidiary of the JSE, will be an implementation agent for the processing and paying of dividends to legitimate claimants, and updating the share registers of companies. JIS has scalable contact center capabilities ring-fenced for this initiative and will use rigorous data privacy and access protocols, robust digital capabilities for shareholder validity verification - including a direct link to Home Affairs for FICA purposes - and introduce online claims processing through ShareHub, its digital shareholder communication portal.
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