The Bank of Ghana has assured customers of commercial banks that customers whose dormant accounts are transferred to the Central Bank will not lose such funds.

As such, they or their legal representatives can make claims for the funds by presenting all relevant documentation.

This follows reaction to information circulating on social media that customers whose accounts are dormant should hurriedly reactivate their accounts or risk losing their funds to the Bank of Ghana.

In a statement, the regulator of the banking industry said “the Bank of Ghana wishes to inform the general public that the recently published directive on dormant accounts seeks to provide directions to banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) on how to protect accounts of customers which have remained inactive (no deposits or withdrawal) for a period of two years. Such accounts are placed in dormant accounts registers and after further three years of no reactivation, the funds are transferred to the Bank of Ghana. The key ingredient in the reactivation process is the identification of the customer.”

It thus encouraged customers whose accounts fall in this category to contact their bankers to reactivate the accounts, adding “as a proactive measure, the Bank of Ghana’s Directive urges banks and SDIs to contact customers whose accounts are dormant to reactivate such accounts.”

“Please note that as part of the directive, banks and SDIs will publish accounts that remain dormant for a period of five years on their websites and in two daily newspapers as a means of notifying account holders who may not have reactivated their accounts”, the statement noted.

For additional protection of accounts that have remained dormant for a minimum of five years, the Bank of Ghana said funds in such accounts will be transferred to the Central Bank by banks and SDIs after the newspaper publication.

It concluded, saying, identification and claiming of funds at the Bank of Ghana is not a tedious process.