In a recent meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, it was revealed that Pakistani citizens have forgotten about a staggering Rs97 billion lying dormant in their bank accounts.
This massive amount is reportedly spread across 10.4 million temporarily closed accounts in various banks across the country.
The meeting, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwala, brought to light that these accounts have remained inactive for a decade. Officials from the State Bank of Pakistan informed the committee about the presence of these funds, emphasizing that many account holders seem to have forgotten about the money in their accounts.
During the briefing, it was proposed that the current 10-year period for considering such accounts permanently closed be extended to 15 years. Under the existing regulations, if an account remains inactive for 10 years, and after sending three notices to the account holder without a response, the funds are transferred to the State Bank.
Interestingly, despite the decade-long dormancy, millions of account holders still approach banks to reactivate their accounts. This trend underscores the necessity of maintaining a flexible approach toward reactivation.
The committee approved the State Bank's proposal to reactivate temporarily closed accounts, allowing citizens to regain access to their forgotten funds and possibly helping to boost economic activity.
This decision is expected to provide relief to many account holders who may not have been aware of the dormant status of their accounts.
