STATE BANK OF PAKISTAN REVEALS RS97 BILLION LYING IN DORMANT ACCOUNTS

A staggering Rs97 billion is currently lying in dormant bank accounts that have been inactive for over a decade, according to officials from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). This revelation was made during a meeting of the Senate’s standing committee on finance.

The SBP reported that approximately 14 million accounts across various banks have been temporarily inactive for 10 years. In response, a proposal has been put forth to extend the timeframe for permanently closing these dormant accounts from 10 to 15 years.

SBP officials noted that a significant number of account holders tend to reactivate their temporarily dormant accounts even after a decade of inactivity. The Senate body has approved the SBP’s proposal to allow the reactivation of these accounts.

A dormant bank account is defined as a Current or Savings Account with no customer-initiated transactions for a period of one year. After the dormancy period, which varies by state, these accounts become the unclaimed property of the state.