Such accounts arise for various reasons, experts believe. For example, immigrants leave the country without having time to withdraw money, people die in disasters or natural calamities, and their relatives do not know about the existence of savings. According to Giorgio Benvenuto, former chairman of the finance commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the national parliament, it is possible that among the “forgotten” accounts there are also deliberately unclaimed ones. People who were involved in bribery cases during the large-scale anti-corruption operation in the 90s of the last century are afraid to touch the money so as not to come to the attention of law enforcement agencies again, and banks take advantage of this.
The association “Italian Taxpayers” has long drawn attention to the problem of “dormant” accounts. It is expected that after the summer holidays, parliament will finally begin consideration of a draft law on the fate of “forgotten” money. According to the draft law, banks will be obliged to inform interested parties about the existence of “dormant” accounts; if after five years they still remain untouched, the funds will be transferred to a newly created fund to compensate losses of investors and bank depositors in case of their bankruptcy.
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