{"id":871496,"date":"2026-08-21T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=871496"},"modified":"2026-08-21T13:19:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T11:19:47","slug":"new-plan-to-pay-r88-billion-owed-to-south-africans-but-there-could-be-a-time-limit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/871496\/new-plan-to-pay-r88-billion-owed-to-south-africans-but-there-could-be-a-time-limit\/","title":{"rendered":"New plan to pay R88 billion owed to South Africans \u2013 but there could be a time limit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa is considering a major overhaul of how over R80 billion in unclaimed financial assets are managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Treasury has proposed a central system to help trace the owners and beneficiaries of money that has remained unpaid for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treasury has published a discussion paper, which sets out proposals for consolidating the administration of dormant bank accounts, unclaimed retirement benefits, unpaid dividends and other investment and insurance proceeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has estimated that there was approximately R88.56 billion in unclaimed assets across the banking and non-banking sectors, with the amount continuing to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unclaimed financial assets include dormant bank accounts, unclaimed retirement benefits, and unpaid dividends, investment and insurance proceeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These assets can arise when people fail to claim retirement benefits, lose contact with financial institutions or when beneficiaries are unaware that they are entitled to money following a policyholder’s or account holder’s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, the process for identifying and tracing owners is fragmented. Treasury said tracing and claims processes are characterised by “differing definitions, reporting practices, tracing approaches and cost structures” across the financial sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed reforms aim to create a consistent national system for recording, managing and tracing these assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They follow an announcement in the 2026 Budget Speech that “National Treasury will introduce reforms to manage these unclaimed benefits through the creation of a central administrator responsible for recordkeeping and tracing”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the proposed model, qualifying unclaimed assets would be transferred from financial institutions to the Corporation for Public Deposits (CPD), a subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CPD would be responsible for the custody and investment of the assets within its statutory mandate, with the funds invested in safe assets to ensure they remain available if an owner or beneficiary comes forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A separate Central Unclaimed Financial Assets Administrator would manage the administrative side of the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could either be a new independent body or an existing service provider appointed for the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administrator would be responsible for “maintaining the consolidated dataset of unclaimed assets, supporting tracing activities, administering individual unclaimed-asset records, and processing claims submitted by owners and beneficiaries”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time limits are being considered <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Treasury does not propose moving all types of unclaimed assets into the system immediately, and has suggested a phased approach, starting with unclaimed retirement fund benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first phase would establish a consolidated database, coordinate tracing efforts and provide a public-facing portal through which people could search for and claim benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second phase would extend the framework to other assets, including dormant bank accounts, unclaimed insurance proceeds and investment products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would happen once common definitions, transfer triggers, reporting standards, and the necessary legislative amendments have been finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the proposed system could introduce an important time limit on claims. Treasury is considering two options to prevent the cost and administrative burden of maintaining unclaimed assets indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first would be an age-based cut-off, such as 110 years. Under this approach, an asset would stop being claimable once the owner reached, or would have reached, 110.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second option would be a fixed 45-year period. Under this model, an asset would cease to be claimable 45 years after it first became unclaimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treasury favours the 45-year approach, saying that “the 45-year limitation period achieves greater administrative efficiency and provides certainty regarding the final disposition of unclaimed assets”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that if the proposal is ultimately adopted, owners or beneficiaries could face a final deadline to claim money owed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the period expires, the asset would “cease to be claimable by the owner or beneficiary and be used in accordance with the approved CPD framework”, potentially for a defined public-interest purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treasury is inviting written submissions on the discussion paper, with comments limited to 10 pages. Submissions must be sent to Alvinah Thela at retirementreform@treasury.gov.za by 19 September 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Treasury is also looking into a possible digital retirement dashboard. A representative working group chaired by the FSCA is examining how such a system could make it easier for retirement fund members to find and track their savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treasury said the dashboard could complement the unclaimed-assets framework by improving data quality and reducing the likelihood of retirement benefits becoming unclaimed in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion paper can be viewed below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n