Dormant wealth
When dormant assets , contactless assets , unclaimed assets , unclaimed account or dormant account are bank deposits and securities mentioned in which the banks have lost contact with customers and could not recover because their owners are presumed dead and the heirs of the existence of these accounts , deposits and Safe deposit boxes is not known. The amount of dormant assets in Switzerland is estimated at around 400 million Swiss francs , in Germany it is estimated at two billion euros.
Situation in Switzerland
Examples of dormant assets are black money deposited in Switzerland for the purpose of tax evasion , the owners of which have failed to leave the necessary information about it to the next of kin.
Relations between Switzerland and other countries were considerably strained in the 1990s by the fact that the bank balances and deposits of people of Jewish faith who were murdered during the Nazi era were tacitly retained by Swiss banks as dormant assets and not an active attempt was made to find heirs for a payout. In the proceedings for Jewish assets at Swiss banks , after public pressure, it was agreed that the accounts would be disclosed and repayments made to existing heirs.
After a legislative initiative that has been discussed for many years, dormant assets are liquidated after 50 years in accordance with Article 37m of the Swiss Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks and fall to the Swiss state. After a further twelve years, the heirs' entitlements to compensation expire.
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA has issued guidelines on how to deal with dormant assets in banks and provides a central point of contact with the banking ombudsman for checking claims .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dormant assets should expire after 50 years. In: Tages-Anzeiger . September 13, 2002, accessed March 28, 2015 .
- ↑ Abandoned accounts: NRW Minister Borjans wants to save the deceased's money. In: Spiegel Online . August 30, 2016, accessed August 30, 2016 .
- ^ Dormant assets in banks. December 17, 2014, accessed March 28, 2015 .