In a recent Senate Standing Committee on Finance meeting, it was revealed that Pakistani citizens have forgotten about a staggering Rs97 billion sitting in dormant bank accounts.
This significant amount is spread across 10.4 million temporarily closed accounts in various banks across the country.
Chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwala, the meeting highlighted that these accounts have been inactive for a decade. Officials from the State Bank of Pakistan informed the committee about the presence of these funds, pointing out that many account holders appear to have forgotten about the money.
During the briefing, a proposal was made to extend the current 10-year period for considering such accounts permanently closed to 15 years. Under the existing regulations, if an account remains inactive for 10 years, and three notices sent to the account holder go unanswered, the funds are transferred to the State Bank.
Interestingly, despite a decade of inactivity, millions of account holders still approach banks to reactivate their accounts, highlighting the need for a flexible approach to reactivation.
The committee approved the State Bank’s proposal to reactivate temporarily closed accounts, enabling citizens to reclaim their forgotten funds and potentially stimulate economic activity.
This decision is expected to provide relief to many account holders who may not have been aware of the dormant status of their accounts.
