The Federal Government plans to boost its 2026 budget by taking almost 500 million euro from dormant accounts. The financial daily ‘De Tijd’ reports that in order to enable it to do so, the Federal Government plans to sharply shorten the period in which people can recoup funds from dormant accounts from the current 30 years to just 5 or 10 years.
The Federal Government’s multi-year budget table includes measures that will shorten the time after which funds from dormant accounts are transferred to the exchequer. The Belgian Finance Minister Jan Jambon (Flemish nationalist) intends to reduce the statute of limitations to 10 years for missing beneficiaries and to 5 years for dormant accounts. Since 2008, banks have been legally required to transfer such dormant funds to the Deposit and Consignment Office (DCK).
Currently, 815 million euros in dormant funds are held at the Deposit and Consignment Office that is part of the Federal Finance Department. This is spread across 674,961 accounts and contracts. Dormant funds are defined as money that has remained untouched in a bank account or insurance policy for five years and whose rightful owner cannot be contacted by the financial institution concerned. These funds may also belong to a missing or deceased beneficiary whose right to reimbursement is unknown or impossible to establish.