Dormant Assets Scheme bolstered by industry leaders

Industry support for new plans to expand the dormant asset schemes

Four business heavyweights have been chosen to expand the dormant assets scheme across their respective sectors, Tracey Crouch, Minister for Sport and Civil Society and John Glen Economic Secretary to the Treasury announced today

The industry champions will work with the banking, securities, pensions, insurance, wealth management and investment sectors to increase the amount of dormant funds that can be released for good causes.

They will also bolster efforts to reunite customers with assets from bank accounts that have been untouched for more than 15 years.

The four industry champions are:

Insurance and Pensions Industry Champion – Kirsty Cooper, group general counsel and company secretary at Aviva

Banking Industry Champion – Simon Kenyon, managing director of consumer banking at Lloyds Banking Group

Investment and Wealth Management Champion – William Nott, strategic adviser to M&G

Securities Champion – Robert Welch, group company secretary at Tesco

Under the current Dormant Accounts scheme, bank or building society accounts that have been left completely untouched for more than 15 years could be used for good causes. The four champions will work to see how this can be expanded to a wider set of financial assets including stocks, shares, pensions or bonds.

Customers are able to reclaim any asset that has been classed as dormant at any time. The Independent Dormant Assets Commission recommended that the scheme be extended to include assets such as pensions and insurance, securities and investments.

Each champion will work with stakeholders and Reclaim Fund Ltd on the expansion plans and will report to Ministers.

Tracey Crouch, Minister for Sport and Civil Society, said:

The Dormant Assets scheme has made a real difference to people’s lives across the country, with half a billion pounds already unlocked for good causes since 2011.

I look forward to working alongside these four experts to see how more unclaimed assets can be used to help communities in the future.

John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said:

We introduced the Dormant Assets scheme with the aim of changing the lives of millions of people across the country through good causes. But without the support of businesses, the scheme wouldn’t be what it is today.

I’m delighted that these highly-experienced business leaders have agreed to be our new industry champions. Their expertise will be vital as we look at ways to expand the scheme, and I look forward to working with them to reach even more people.