Bank waives excess for clients who buy property marking kit

Customers won't have to pay the excess on burglary claims at BNZ if they buy a product to mark their property which aims to prevent the goods going walkabout.

The SelectaDNA kits, which have been on sale at the bank since last year, are used to mark goods with a coded microdot.

If the items are stolen and later recovered, the numbers glow blue under ultra-violet light code and can be matched by police against a database of registered owners.

BNZ said yesterday that people who bought the $100 kits - each containing a bottle of solution, a small UV torch and warning stickers to display on property - and were signed up to the bank's PremierCare home and contents insurance policy or were new customers, would not be required to pay the standard excess if a burglary claim was made.

The average excess is about $250 for claims under the policy.

The deal does not cover voluntary excess or an imposed excess.

The offer covers only burglaries - where there is forced entry - which occurred in the house registered, and not theft claims.

SelectaDNA, designed in Britain, can be applied to "almost anything", including laptops, video games, jewellery, televisions and art.

BNZ's chief operating officer for insurance, Mark Stephen, said that once customers bought the product they needed to register the kit online with their name and address, mark their property and display on their house the SelectaDNA stickers provided.

"We are confident that the combined use of SelectaDNA, and the 'you steal, you're marked' warning stickers, will significantly reduce the number of burglaries seen in New Zealand."

The marker, which is invisible under natural light, is painted on like glue and marks property indefinitely, clothes for up to six months and skin for one to two weeks.

If a microdot can not be found, police can take a scraping of the solution and have it tested.

David Morrissey, SelectaDNA director, said the technology had reduced burglaries by up to 85 per vent in the UK and Holland.

New Zealand is the third country in the world to trial the product.

The solution is also being used in a hydra-spray form at the entrance of BNZ banks to help place offenders at the scene.

It douses fleeing robbers and police shine UV torches on the suspect.