22 May 2019

 A total amount of P15.9 million unclaimed funds are reported to be held at the Bank of Botswana (BoB) as at March.

In an interview, BoB head of communications and information services, Dr Seamogano Mosanako explained that  5 975 accounts in the last five years to 2017  from various banking institutions were declared abandoned and the funds were remitted to the Bank of Botswana as required by the Banking Act (Cap 46;04).

Dr Mosanako said the abandoned funds were defined in Section 39 (1) of the Banking Act (Cap 46;04) as customer deposits or money lodged with a bank for any purpose and has been left untouched and not reclaimed for at least 10 years.

“Typically, an account holder of such a deposit or money is required to have responded within six months to a post registered letter sent to the last known address by a bank concerning the dormancy status of the account,” she said.

The unclaimed funds, she said, comes from a variety of sources, including abandoned bank accounts and stock holdings, unclaimed life insurance payouts, and forgotten pension benefits.

She said First National Bank of Botswana had the largest cumulative number of 2 358 of abandoned funds accounts in the last five years to 2017.

Dr Mosanako cited that some of the reasons for the client leaving their accounts dormant were due to the death of the account holders when none of the family members knew about the existence of the account, adding that some expatriates also returned home leaving accounts with relatively small balances.

She said some account holders also opted to leave funds in their account for a long time in the hope of earning more interest and ended up completely forgetting of the existence of such accounts, adding that in some cases such accounts were opened by parents or guardians on behalf of children while the account beneficiaries were not aware of the existence of the accounts.

Dormant accounts, she said do not earn interest, therefore, pleaded with account holders to liaise with their respective banks to reactivate them.

Further, Dr Mosanako advised the public to regularly update their Know-Your-Customer (KYC) information, highlighting that the KYC information required by banks includes the national identity number, proof of residential address, proof of address and proof of income source.

She stated that updating the address made it easier for the bank to trace the account holder.

Dr Mosanako reiterated that abandoned funds may be claimed by owners within the five years of remittance to Bank of Botswana, beyond which the funds are transferred to the Guardian Fund, which is under the custody of the Registrar and Master of the High Court. ENDS