Treasury’s big plan for South Africa’s R88 billion in unclaimed assets
National Treasury aims to centralise R88bn in unclaimed financial assets, ensuring that forgotten funds are safeguarded and accessible to rightful owners
South Africa's National Treasury is proposing a comprehensive solution to manage the country's unclaimed financial assets, estimated at R88.56 billion in 2022. The new framework, outlined in a discussion paper, aims to consolidate these assets under a central administrator, streamline ownership tracing, and ensure secure storage until rightful claimants step forward.
Treasury envisions financial institutions transferring unclaimed assets to the Corporation for Public Deposits (CPD), a bank subsidiary that would invest these funds on behalf of the state. This consolidation would replace the current fragmented system, improving data integration, record-keeping, and asset protection. The proposed reforms would be phased in, with retirement benefits as the initial focus, followed by other financial assets.
Treasury is also debating the period for asset claimants, suggesting either a 45-year window from the asset becoming unclaimed or until a beneficiary reaches 110 years old.
Written by urgent.news from IOL's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
