Thursday 15th November 2007
The banking industry is to unite in restoring dormant accounts to their rightful owners, with the British Bankers Association (BBA) at the helm.
A search facility on the associations website is to offer consumers the ability to discover any funds which may await them, the industry body explains.
Efforts to do so were outlined in the dormant bank and building society accounts bill unveiled in parliament last week.
Previous attempts to identify dormant accounts are to continue, the BBA stresses, including a promise made by the banks.
Through this previous agreement, where a trail of paperwork can be followed to identify the rightful owner of an account, the banking industry made a commitment to do so.
Government body National Savings & Investments and the Building Societies Association are also to collaborate with the BBA to offer free search facilities for lost accounts.
BBA chief executive Angela Knight explains: "If you have money in an account, it will always be your property - or if you die, it will become part of your estate. This is the case no matter how many years pass."
She confirms that dormant funds are to be used for community projects, but stresses that this does not mean they are no longer the property of the previous owner.
New government plans "crucially leave undisturbed the rights of account holders or their legal heirs to reclaim their money at any time", according to Ms Knight.
Accountholders or their legal representatives are entitled to search for dormant funds, the BBA states, with the service covered by the industrys code of conduct, the Banking Code.
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