Insurance firm addresses the confusion
Q I HAVE a power of attorney (POA) for my 96-year-old, registered blind, mother. I sent it to Aviva for registration. I had told them of her change of address nearly three years ago. Then I discovered another Aviva investment. On the phone, Aviva informed me it knew of the POA but I would need to send documents for the change of address. I did so. Then Aviva wrote to say the documents were not for my mother’s registered address which was her old one and not the one I updated them with. The letter said I needed to send the POA again (currently with another firm). Ann M A AVIVA includes companies such as Norwich Union, Commercial Union and Friends Life, bolting computer systems together but sometimes needing better spanners.
The firm is divided into Aviva and Aviva Investors, plain to some but not to many customers, as one of your mother’s investments was in one and a second in the other. You obviously questioned why one part needs to see the POA, which lets you take care of your mother’s finances, when the other has passed it – and it is on a shared system. Nor was it clear why Aviva Investors needed proof of your mother’s new address when Aviva was already sending updates there.
When Aviva acquired Friends Life in December 2014, it promised to integrate systems with “almost surgical precision”. Your mother moved in summer 2015. But the scalpel was not so sharp and this change was still put on the old Friends’ system and not passed to Aviva Investors. Aviva has updated both the POA and address across all its systems.
Aviva Investors still needs further documentation for anti-money laundering procedures. When your mother first invested 20 years ago, different rules were in force, although, as you only want to withdraw money for her care and the investment seems closed to new money, it’s hard to see how you can money launder fresh funds – even if you wanted to. It will contact you to ensure this new check is carried out as quickly as possible. It will also apologise for the inconvenience you have suffered and will offer you £100 as a gesture of compensation.