The Dormant Assets Act 2022 expands the scope of the Dormant Assets Scheme to include individual (retail) shareholder assets in a public company whose shares are traded in the UK regulated market.
The Scheme enables participating organisations (‘participants’) to transfer monies from eligible dormant assets that cannot be reunited with their owners to RFL. RFL protects the right of asset holders to reclaim the value of their assets at any time in the future. RFL invests funds it receives from participants to cover future reclaims and transfers the surplus to The National Lottery Community Fund which distributes these amounts to good causes across the UK.
By doing so, a participant’s liability for customer reclaims is transferred to RFL. RFL (in compliance with the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008 and the Dormant Assets Act 2022) ensures that the account holders’, or their beneficiaries, right to reclaim their money at any time, is protected in perpetuity. Account holders reclaim their funds from the organisation with which they held an account, which is in turn reimbursed by RFL. RFL transfers surplus funds (i.e. funds that are not required to meet future reclaims) to The National Lottery Community Fund which distributes these amounts to good causes across the UK. Please see Impact of Dormant Assets for more information
Why join?Companies in all industries are increasingly placing environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities at the heart of their strategies. Participating in the Dormant Assets Scheme benefits participants, their customers and the wider communities in which they operate:
Contact us at dormantassets@reclaimfund.co.uk to discuss how your organisation could participate in the Dormant Assets Scheme. |
Assets in scope
Eligible assets in the securities sector include unclaimed proceeds from corporate actions and proceeds of, or distributions from dormant shares registered in the name of an individual. The eligible amounts are the converted cash proceeds where, following attempts to trace and reunify the asset with its owner, there has been no contact with the owner for at least 12 years.
How the Scheme works:
| If you think that you have a lost/unclaimed shareholding, you should contact the original provider or share registrar. Alternatively, there are tracing services available who can help (see Useful links on this page). |