Liquidated dormant assets flow largely to the Confederation
Published: Wednesday, Jun 5th 2024, 12:30
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Last year, dormant assets that were definitively liquidated flushed CHF 7.1 million into the federal coffers. In fact, a large proportion of the dormant assets flowed into the federal coffers because the claimants could not be traced or their eligibility could not be verified.
Time and again, Swiss banks lose contact with customers, for example due to a move abroad or a death. In such cases, financial institutions must comply with a procedure based on the "Narilo Guidelines", which came into force in 1995: If the bank has had no contact with the customer for an extended period of time, it must make inquiries "within reason".
If the person concerned cannot be traced, the details of the assets, provided they exceed CHF 500, must be transmitted to a central database to which only the Swiss Banking Ombudsman has access. The Swiss Banking Ombudsman is then responsible for searching for the beneficiaries.
If they cannot be traced, the credit balances on the contactless account will be published on www.dormantaccounts.ch 60 years after the last customer contact. If no eligible person comes forward one year after publication, the credit balances are transferred by the banks to the Federal Finance Administration (FFA).
Only a few applications are submitted
Since the system was introduced in 2001, the Swiss Banking Ombudsman has been able to identify 710 contactless banking relationships and thus transfer assets with a total value of 139.4 million Swiss francs to the beneficiaries and make the contents of 73 safes accessible.
The Banking Ombudsman also deals with inquiries from private individuals who suspect contactless assets to which they are entitled. In 2023, 477 inquiries were dealt with, but only 18 were successfully concluded.
"The average success rate since 2001 has been around 6.5 percent," explains Andreas Barfuss, Ombudsman of the Swiss banks. The low percentage can be explained by the fact that applicants generally do not search for accounts that they have opened themselves, but for accounts that a relative has opened at a bank that they do not know. It is therefore often a case of "pure guesswork".
In 2023, the majority of applications processed came from Germany (151), followed by France (66). Switzerland is in third place with 49 applications.
"It may be that the heirs of people resident in Switzerland have better information and therefore only receive a few search requests from Switzerland," says Barfuss. Outside Europe, most requests came from Asia (32) and North America (31).
A blessing for the covenant
In total, returned assets amounted to CHF 1.1 million last year, compared to CHF 14.1 million in 2022, CHF 5.4 million in 2021 and CHF 3.6 million in 2020, according to the Swiss Banking Ombudsman's annual report.
However, this is only a small proportion of the total number of frozen assets processed. At CHF 7.1 million, the lion's share will go to the federal government in 2023. The funds flow into the federal coffers and are not earmarked for a specific purpose.
Since 2017, Bern has received the proceeds from the liquidation of the confiscated assets. Within six years, the Confederation received a total of CHF 96.6 million. This profit was particularly high in the coronavirus years, as can be seen from the financial reports on the state accounts: in 2020, it amounted to CHF 17.4 million.
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