ALLIANZ SE France's ACPR financial sector watchdog accused Allianz Vie of a "massive and prolonged breach of its obligations" to identify deceased life insurance policyholders and of failing to commit enough resources to finding their heirs.
Allianz said searches for heirs had often run up against legal obstacles that were only lifted with a new law this year.
The company said it currently had a team of 107 people devoted to the task of finding policyholders' heirs, who were often found in less than 30 days.
Allianz also said it had gained no profits from unclaimed funds, which had been added to sums used to make payouts to all policyholders.
Last month, the ACPR also fined French life insurer CNP Assurances 40 million euros for not doing enough to seek out heirs of deceased policyholders.
France's Cour des Comptes public audit office said in a report last year that life insurers had been very slow to meet their obligations to find heirs under a law enacted in 2007.
The auditor estimated that unclaimed life policies were worth at least 2.76 billion euros.
If a policy is still unclaimed 30 years after the holder's death, the funds revert to the state under French law.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by James Regan)
