Banks will soon be able to close dormant bank accounts by
depositing the account balance into a central fund, the Jersey
Reclaim Fund. Any money that is not reclaimed from the fund will be
used for charitable and social purposes.
How will this help banks?
Currently, where a Jersey bank has lost contact with a customer
it must maintain the customer's deposit account. The Dormant
Bank Accounts (Jersey) Law 201- will allow banks to remove the
liabilities associated with dormant accounts from their balance
sheets.
How will the scheme work?
An account will be classified as dormant if no transactions have
been carried out by the customer on it for 15 years. Banks will
have to notify customers with dormant accounts 3 months before
transferring account balances to the central fund. There will be
transitional provisions to give banks time to build systems to
identify accounts that have been dormant for 15 years. Failure to
comply with the law is a criminal offence and
