NATIONAL NEWS - The National Treasury has invited public comments on a sweeping regulatory proposal to centralise South Africa’s multi-billion-rand worth of unclaimed financial assets under a newly established central administrator.
In 2022, the estimated value of these assets was R88 billion. Unclaimed financial assets include dormant bank accounts, unclaimed retirement benefits, and unpaid dividends, investment and insurance proceeds.
“The paper proposes establishing a central administrator for unclaimed financial assets. The administrator would be responsible for record-keeping and tracing of asset owners and beneficiaries.
“It also considers institutional options for the central administrator, including establishing a new entity or appointing an existing administrator with the necessary scale and capabilities,” National Treasury said in a statement on Thursday.
The proposed reforms aim to improve the identification, tracing and payment of owners and beneficiaries of unclaimed financial assets, while creating a consistent national approach to how these assets are recorded, administered and managed.
It is further proposed that financial institutions currently holding unclaimed financial assets be required to transfer those assets to the central administrator and be invested with the Corporation for Public Deposits (CPD), a subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank responsible for managing public deposits from various governmental entities.
“This would replace the current fragmented approach with a single, accountable system for consolidating information, improving tracing efforts, standardising record-keeping and safeguarding the unclaimed assets, pending lawful claims by owners and beneficiaries.
“By consolidating assets on a scale through the central administrator and investment with the CPD, the proposed model should also help reduce the erosion of unclaimed assets due to fragmented administrative costs,” National Treasury said.
The proposed reforms to address unclaimed financial assets will be implemented in phases, commencing with unclaimed retirement benefits and subsequently extending to other sectors.
The paper, titled “A Framework to Centralise Unclaimed Financial Assets in South Africa,” builds on the Financial Sector Conduct Authority’s (FSCA) 2022 and 2024 reports on unclaimed financial assets.
National Treasury has invited written comments on the proposals set out in the discussion paper and particularly the discussion questions.
Submissions should be limited to 10 pages and sent to Ms Alvinah Thela at [email protected] by 19 September 2026. -SAnews.gov.za
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