Swiss bankers search for legal owners of 'dormant' accounts
As writes nashagazeta.ch, in accordance with innovations that came into force at the beginning of last year and allowed to lift the veil of banking secrecy, the publication of data that allows identifying the owner of a 'dormant' account (first and last name, date of birth and citizenship, last known place of residence or location of a legal entity, in rare cases – account or passbook number) has become the last available means for Swiss financial institutions to find their clients or their legal representatives. Otherwise, in a year a process will come into effect whereby these funds will be transferred to the state.
For accounts whose contact with owners was lost in 1954 or earlier, the publication period of data on the dormantaccounts.ch website is extended to five years. It should be noted that this rule applies only to accounts with a balance exceeding 500 francs, or safe deposit boxes whose contents remain unknown.
A year ago, data on holders of 2,600 accounts totaling about 44 million francs and owners of 80 safe deposit boxes were made publicly available. This time, the result of Swiss bankers' work on identifying 'dormant' accounts, predictably, turned out to be more modest. In a disseminated communiqué, the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA), which supports the platform, reported that about 300 names have been added to the general list, and the total amount of related assets is 8 million francs.
Upon finding a familiar name in the list, one can immediately send a corresponding request by filling out a form on the website, where you need to provide your own data and clarify the relationship with the account owner (if the search is being conducted by relatives, a lawyer, or another representative of the client). It is recommended to include as many details as possible to confirm that your claims to possession of a certain amount are sufficiently justified. Otherwise, according to current legislation, the bank may present the heir claimant with an invoice for the costs of the search work, while still not granting access to the assets.
Additionally, to find accounts forgotten in Swiss banks, it is not necessary to wait for the expiration of the 60-year statutory period after which this data will be published. You can submit a request directly to the banking ombudsman service (bankingombudsman.ch), to which the Confederation's financial institutions transmit information about assets over 500 francs after 10 years from the loss of contact with the client, or 3 years if the account owner used online banking. Of course, even in this situation, you will have to provide evidence that the applicant is connected to the account or can claim the amount as an heir or other legal representative of its owner. This service will cost 100 francs, and the time allotted for the search is usually 3 to 4 weeks.
According to the ATS agency, since the publication of the first batch of unclaimed accounts last year, Swiss bankers have managed to return to legal owners only 5% of the funds left unattended in Swiss financial institutions. Thus, most of the published data is still awaiting its time. Recall that for accounts whose information was added to the list last year, the publication period expires in 2020, and the latest updates will disappear from the database in a year.