Bill on Unclaimed Assets Published

Legislation to underpin the voluntary unclaimed assets scheme was introduced to the House of Lords on 7 November.  The Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill sets the framework for a scheme under which money in dormant accounts - those which have had no customer-initiated activity for 15 years - can be made available to be distributed to charities, whilst ensuring account holders can reclaim their money at any time.

The Bill confirms that the Big Lottery Fund will be responsible for distributing the unclaimed assets of banks and building societies.  But most building societies will be able to use their members’ unclaimed assets to support good causes in their local communities, instead of the money being distributed by the Big Lottery Fund.  The BSA welcomes this move which allows building societies to give back to the areas from where they draw their members.

The BSA has been working closely with the Government and the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) to bring about the new unclaimed assets scheme.  Building societies are committed to reuniting members with their lost accounts and during 2008 there will be increased efforts by the industry to track down lost savers.

In addition to plans in the Bill:

• The BSA, BBA and NS&I will jointly launch in January 2008 a ‘one stop shop’ website, drawing together the existing free tracing schemes of the three organisations.  The site will enable customers to search for a building society, bank and/or National Savings account via a single, simple process.
• Building societies will be undertaking tracing activity in respect of their lost account customers – this will include writing to lost account holders, and may involve the use of tracing agencies and local and national media work.
• The Banking Code (to be published in March 2008) will be revised to give further commitments about reuniting customers with their money and confirm that their money can be reclaimed at any time.

BSA Lost Accounts Tracing Scheme
The BSA operates a free service for people to trace any building society savings with which they have lost touch.  All 59 UK societies participate in this scheme.  Individuals can complete an online application form or leaflets can be downloaded from the BSA website (www.bsa.org.uk) or requested via the BSA Consumer Line on 020 7437 0655.  Alternatively, customers can pick up a leaflet at their local building society branch.  The BBA and NS&I also operate free tracing services.

The Bill received its Second Reading in the House of Lords on 21 November and moves to Committee stage on December 10.