Unitek uses AI to help Legal & General trace £20bn in unclaimed pensions

Irish automation start-up to partner with UK insurer in uncovering 1.6m pension pots

Irish technology company Unitek has partnered with insurer Legal & General in Britain to help it trace almost £20 billion (€23 billion) in unclaimed pensions.

The “no-code automation” start-up is to provide its artificial intelligence-powered technology to assist the FTSE 100-listed company in uncovering 1.6 million pension pots.

The initial deal is estimated to be worth several hundred thousand euro, but is expected to be expanded from its initial scope.

Historically, the process for tracking down lost pensions has been slow and complicated, with the onus typically on the customer to contact their pension providers and past employers themselves. Using Unitek’s technology, however, Legal & General will be able to automate data collection and entry from more than 60 pension providers to speed up and simplify the process.

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Bottlenecks

Founded in 2018 by Martin Brown, Unitek's platform provides a suite of products that help identify bottlenecks in processes and automates them. The company earlier this year secured £500,000 (€580,000) in investment after participating in an Ulster Bank accelerator programme.

“Many people are unaware of what pensions they have with their old employers and even if they are, it’s a complicated, drawn-out process. The team at Unitek is proud that our technology is enabling Legal & General to provide its customers with this service, whilst also being able to deliver the services more cost-efficiently,” said Mr Brown.

Unitek is chaired by Gerry Hassett, who previously led the retail arm of the Irish Life group. Its customers include Vodafone and Flender.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist