The largest insurer by premium income in Africa’s most populous nation AIICO Insurance has more unclaimed dividends than the amount it paid out as dividend to shareholders.
For instance, AIICO Insurance’s unclaimed dividend of N973.40 million as at June 2022 exceeded N732.10 million final dividend paid out of distributable profit to owners, as at 2021 financial year.
As required by section 16(d) of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidelines the assets representing these unclaimed dividends do not form part of the assets of the Company. These funds were returned to AIICO insurance and are domiciled with the custodian.
An unpaid dividend, also known as a Dividend Payable, refers to the dividend that a company has announced but has not been paid to stockholders. Dividends are profits that a company distributes to its shareholders.
Corporations distribute money to its shareholders when profits are made. An unpaid dividend is a dividend which the company has declared but had not been distributed to stockholders.
From the moment a company announces dividends to the moment shareholders receive their dividends, an unpaid dividend exists.