Billions The euro is in the euro area. Germany In bank accounts, without recording no transaction for many years. Often heirs do not even know of their existence. According to a report by the Federal Ministry of Research, the amount in inactive accounts may still exceed Four billion euros. Some estimates even mention nine billion. Official data on these accounts do not exist.
Often the problem begins with death: There are not few who have more than one account, which they often manage exclusively digitally. Therefore, if there are no documents, the search is a major challenge for relatives. The situation is even more complicated when so-called modern assets exist, such as cryptocurrency or NFT (unchangeable tokens), which are almost impossible to locate.
Who is entitled to the billions in inactive accounts?
Unfortunately there is no clear legal definition of an inactive bank account. Usually these are bank deposits or securities that have remained inactive for years. Banks shall designate an account inactive if it is not possible to communicate with its owner, heirs are not located or mail returned. Without a clear legal framework, financial institutions are at the discretion of how intensively they seek holders. In Germany, for example, strict data protection regulations are another incentive for banks to seek out the heirs of an inactive bank account.
In Germany the contents of a bank account remain permanently owned by their owners or heirs. Banks are required to keep it in their possession indefinitely. The state has access to it only if it is officially recognized as heir. However, there is no central register so that heirs can be served and identify such accounts. Instead, any questions submitted individually to banks. It is a complex, often costly process with uncertain results.
Why don't heirs find the money?
For years Germany has been making efforts to create a national register of inactive bank accounts. The government of Chancellor Murch is planning a central electronic database, but there is still no necessary regulatory framework. The result? Billions of euros remain in obscurity.
A look at other countries shows that there are different ways to deal with the issue. In Greece, a bank account is characterized as inactive when it remains without transaction for two consecutive years. After twenty years without any movement, the money comes to the Greek State.
What other countries do with «lost» Money?
In the United Kingdom, inactive accounts are transferred after 15 years to a special fund that finances social projects. The heirs however have the right to recover the money at any time. And in Ireland the money of idle accounts ends up in the public domain, which channeles it to social projects. In the US, the State concerned undertakes the management of inactive accounts after a few years and if communication with the holder is not possible publishes a notice on «unclaimed properties». But in most cases the heirs have access to the money of such accounts.
France transfers accounts to a state institution after ten years and after another 20 years pass to the public. Switzerland, on the other hand, gives priority to transparency. The information of the holders is published after 60 years and if there are no heirs then the amounts are finally passed to the public.
