The Financial Regulator daid today that it has been monitoring the SSIA maturity process as part of its consumer protection role. This has involved looking at patterns of queries from consumers, reviewing documents sent by financial institutions to account holders and a programme of SSIA-focused inspections. Over the past six months, approximately one quarter of accounts have matured.
Consumer Director, Mary O'Dea said, "The maturity process has, in general, been running smoothly and financial institutions have put significant resources in place to deal with maturing accounts. In general, we are satisfied that where issues have arisen, such as amendments to accounts not being made and confusion over maturity dates, that these have been handled promptly and appropriately. We have written to institutions to let them know the issues we have come across and to ask them to continue to monitor their systems and resources during the rest of the maturity process. In particular, we have asked that they have adequate resources in place to deal with accounts maturing in April 2007, when almost half of all accounts will mature."
The calls to the Financial Regulator's help-line have concerned a number of SSIA-related matters, particularly maturity dates. Some consumers expected to receive their money sooner, often because of confusion over maturity dates or the time it takes to encash equity SSIAs. Other consumers reported that requested changes to their SSIA subscription amounts were not made or were made later than intended.
"We are satisfied that institutions have put procedures in place to deal with these cases. However, we would encourage consumers to be proactive and if they have changed their SSIA contribution, they should check to see that this change is reflected in their bank statements and in their SSIA statements. It is always wise to monitor your bank account on an ongoing basis. If you have changed address since you opened your SSIA, you should make sure your provider is aware of this," she added.
People with equity SSIAs have also contacted the Financial Regulator regarding encashment. Some consumers assumed that they would automatically receive their money once their equity SSIA matured. However, many equity SSIAs are open-ended, so even after the SSIA matures, the investment remains in place and payments may continue, unless the customer instructs their SSIA provider otherwise.
This means that consumers need to tell their provider if and when they want to cash in their investment. This is in addition to completing their SSIA4 form, which is a Revenue form that must be returned before their SSIA matures. If they do not want to encash their investment, they should contact their provider to let them know whether they want to change or cancel their monthly contributions to their investment. The Financial Regulator has asked institutions to aim to get SSIA maturity funds to consumers as quickly as possible.
