KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 ― Malaysians have allowed over RM327 million in payouts and benefits from insurance policies to go unclaimed in the past five years, said the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM).

According to a report in The Star newspaper, the association said RM64 million in such unclaimed funds was submitted to the Registrar of Unclaimed Money under the Accountant-General's Department last year alone.

"516,728 matured life insurance policies (that) have been forgotten by the policyholders and their beneficiaries,” LIAM said in a statement.

The association comprised 16 member companies that must submit records on the unclaimed amounts to the department annually before March.

In 2012, the amount submitted was nearly RM80 million, RM54 million in 2013, RM67.5 million in 2014 and in 2015, RM61.5 million.

LIAM said that in most cases, the funds could not be paid out as the beneficiaries were uncontactable.

"Continuous attempts would be taken to contact policyholders or beneficiaries before the mandatory submission to the Registrar is due.

"Mandatory submission as per the law is usually one year after cheques issues in their names are returned and all efforts to contact the claimants have failed,” the association said.

One LIAM member, Etiqa Insurance, reportedly accrued RM13 million in unclaimed funds last year.

Etiqa's parent company, Maybank Ageas Holding Bhd, said that this was because many customers did not realise that their policies have matured.

"We have a team dedicated to identifying policy and certificate holders who have died and then undertake a systematic search for their beneficiaries,” chief executive officer Kamaludin Ahmad was quoted as saying.