Head of Financial Stability Department at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has stated that owners of dormant accounts will lose them after three years of inactivity.

After a period of two years, if the account has been inactive at the respective banks, Mr France said, such accounts are declared dormant in the third year of inactiveness.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show Thursday, Dr Joseph France explained that after the third year, unclaimed dormant accounts would be handed over to BoG for keeps, until further decisions are taken.

"Then after three years, you transfer it to the Bank of Ghana after you have displayed or publicly displayed or made public that such an account has been dormant," he said.

"After a while with the Bank of Ghana, it may become public property or given to charity," he said.

Dr France noted that it is essential for one to provide details of next of kin when opening a bank account. He added that, after opening the account, it is prudent for one to inform the next of kin about the details of the account.

"You need to give whoever would be your next of kin, and even after you die, there would be letters of administration and then they would have to look for where you have an account," he said.

Regarding the discovery of dormant accounts by successors, Mr France said that banks are to display the account details of such accounts on their websites, as well as announce them in newspapers.

"Because of the volume, the institution would also display it in the newspapers that names of dormant accounts have been published on their website and so the public should go to their website and scan through and see."

He said that protocols and processes are observed to ensure that fraudsters are not able to impersonate account owners, including deceased persons.