A bill to allow government take possession of dormant accounts lodged in both deposit taking and non-deposit taking financial institutions has received the endorsement of two banking experts.

Nana Otuo Acheampong, a banking consultant and Executive Director for Osei Tutu II Centre for Executive Education and Daniel Enim Prempeh of the Institute of Certified Economists say the proposed law will promote Ghana’s banking sector.

The Unclaimed Assets Law will establish an authority – the Registrar of Dormant Account – which will manage the assets and also proactively locate beneficiaries or their next of kin, instead of leaving them in the banking and other financial institutions.

Nana Otuo Acheampong and Daniel Enim Prempeh were speaking Tuesday on current affairs programme, PM Express on the Joy News channel on Multi TV.

Shedding light on the proposed law, Nana Otuo Acheampong said any account that has not been operated for two years will be classified as dormant and will subsequently be moved into a special account managed by the Registrar of Dormant Account.

“There has been cases in the past that accounts have gone dormant and by the time [depositors] realize there is nothing left because charges have eaten whatever credits that there were.

“What the new bill is saying that when it goes to the Registrar of Dormant Account all charges cease, so at that point if there are any outstanding charges or any interest to be credited, they will do it and then balance is struck.

“That balance then stays with the deposit taking institution for another three years. After the end of the third year, that institution should cause your full name and your last known address to be published in two newspapers in national circulation,” he explained.

Daniel Enim Prempeh also said the bill will protect depositors.

“Once the money gets to the central bank [which will oversee the Registrar of Dormant Account] it is safe. The central bank is there forever. It is a policy that will really help,” he said.

He however said government must begin early education about the bill to gain the support of banking public.

Mr Prempeh also adds that the bill will prevent the temptation by banks and their staff from deliberately hiding unclaimed balances.

Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, announced the bill during his presentation of the subsidiary budget to Parliament in July.

“The unclaimed assets programme, to be launched soon, is a programme for managing assets or funds that are presumed to be abandoned, stranded and remain unclaimed by their owners,” he said

 These unclaimed funds include balances on dormant accounts, with banks and other deposit taking institutions including dividends, interests, redemption proceeds, insurance premiums and pension entitlements.

He said countries like Ivory Coast and Kenya have successfully implemented the policy to boost their coffers.

The bill is currently before the Attorney General’s Department for drafting and subsequent forwarding to cabinet and parliament for consideration.