More than Tk 240 crore worth of deposits remained unclaimed with the Motijheel office of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) for five years deom 2018 to 2022, official sources said.
Of the amount, the central bank deposited Tk106 crore with the government treasury, BB sources said.
Bank officials said when a client dies or goes missing or abroad, the money deposited with the bank is not withdrawn. When pay order recipient’s name and address are wrong the money remains with the unclaimed account.
The central bank doesn’t have any trace of the owners of the unclaimed deposits lying with different accounts of public and private banks.
According to BB statistics, in 2018, commercial banks deposited Tk 38.14 crore with the central bank, the BB deposited Tk 10,64 crore with the government treasury.
The commercial banks deposited Tk 24.14 crore with the BB in 2019, while the BB deposited Tk 10.49 crore with the treasury.
In 2020, the banks deposited Tk 16.89 crore with the BB, while the central bank deposited Tk 34.45 crore with the treasury.
In 2021, the banks deposited Tk 113.75 crore with the central bank, while the BB deposited Tk 37.38 crore with the government’s treasury.
The commercial banks deposited Tk 48.60 crore with the central bank in 2022, while BB deposited Tk13.47 crore with the treasury.
According to Section 35 of the Bank Companies Act, 1991 (amended in 2018), if the owner of any deposit is not found and no transaction is made for 10 years, the bank has to deposit the money with the Bangladesh Bank.
Besides, the payables, payable cheque, drafts or bills of exchange and valuables kept in the custody of the bank will be treated as unclaimed money and valuables. However, government, minor or court money will not fall under this rule.
Mazbaul Haque, Executive Director and Spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, told The News Times that if any account of the bank has not been transacted for two years, then the bank treat the account as dormant. After that, if there is no transaction for 10 years, then the bank deposits the money with BB as unclaimed deposit.
He also said the BB again holds this money for two years. If the client comes back, then the bank can come to Bangladesh Bank to collect the money. If no client comes within two years, BB deposits it in the government treasury.
