There is still a further £27.5 million to be claimed and HSBC has undertaken a range of initiatives to try to reunite customers with their money. The bank has written to customers, held a national advertising/publicity campaign, set up an unclaimed balances website as well as employing tracing agents to try to re-establish contact with customers.
The region with the most funds still left in dormant accounts is Central London with around £7 million still outstanding. The next highest concentration of dormant accounts is in Greater London with over £4 million outstanding. The fewest balances in dormant accounts are in Scotland (£200,000).
Brendan Cook, HSBC retail products executive manager, said: "We are delighted that we have been able to reunite so many of our customers with their money. Whether the account has a balance of £5 or £5,000, it is important that we continue to try to trace these customers so that we can make them aware of what is rightfully theirs.”
Account balances which cannot be traced are expected to be transferred over to the government’s dormant accounts scheme. No date has been set for the launch of this scheme, but three months prior to the start date HSBC will send a final letter to dormant account customers to alert them to the impending deadline.
Although the dormant account funds are to be transferred to the government, the money will always remain the property of the customer and can be reclaimed at any stage.
For help in tracing dormant bank accounts, the British Bankers’ Association is offering a free service to every bank in the UK which is covered by the Banking Code. The website www.mylostaccount.org.uk brings together BBA, Building Societies Association and National Savings & Investments and enables people to trace a dormant and lost account across banks, building societies and NS&I on completion of an online application form.
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