SBP reveals Rs97bln in dormant accounts

ISLAMABAD: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) officials have disclosed that Rs97 billion are lying in dormant accounts that have been inactive for the past 10 years.

The revelation was made during the meeting of the Senate’s standing committee on finance.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, 14 million accounts of various banks have been temporarily inactive for a decade.

A proposal has been made to extend the period for permanently closing these dormant accounts from 10 years to 15 years.

State Bank officials noted that millions of account holders reactivate their temporarily dormant accounts even after 10 years.

The Senate body has approved the State Bank’s proposal to allow the reactivation of temporarily dormant accounts.

What is dormant bank account?

As per the Bank’s policy, a Current or Savings Account is considered dormant if there has been no customer-initiated transaction for a period of one year. For security purposes, the Bank exercises increased caution on all such accounts.

What happens when an account goes dormant?

A dormant account is an account that has had no financial activity for a long period of time, except for the posting of interest. After the dormancy period, which varies by state, dormant accounts become the unclaimed property of the state.