NASSAU, BAHAMAS- Just under $90 million in dormant bank accounts were in the custody of the Central Bank at year-end 2022 according to the regulator.
The Central Bank in its annual report and statement of accounts for 2022 noted that at December 31st, December 2022, it maintained custody of 41,878 dormant facilities, with balances totalling $89 million. These it noted were denominated in six currencies. Balances in United States dollars and Bahamian dollars combined, accounted for a dominant 91.4 percent of the total, while the Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, Euro and British pound accounted for the remaining 8.6 percent.
The legislation that governs dormant accounts was changed back in 2018, with the government receiving an initial transfer of $36.7 million. The Banks and Trust Companies Regulation Act and the Central Bank of The Bahamas Act was amended to allow the money in dormant accounts to be moved to the treasury. Since then, government has received sums of money from the dormant accounts fund, notably allocating $10 million from the dormant accounts fund to help restart businesses on Grand Bahama and Abaco following Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
According to the regulator, in accordance with the Act, as at December 31st, 2022, an estimated $1.9 million in dormant funds was due for remittance to the Government against the applicable 10-year custodial period expiration.
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