Post by mangomoney on Nov 1, 2017 19:31:01 GMT 7
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Dormant account move scheduled for 2018
Officials insist money will not be put to use
Published: 1/11/2017 at 08:18 AM
Newspaper section: Business
A law on pooling money parked in bank accounts that have been inactive for at least 10 years into the Finance Ministry's suspense accounts is expected to be enforced in October next year at the earliest, the head of the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) said, and the law will restrict the money from such accounts to only be used to return money to account holders.
"Even after 10 or 20 years, [dormant] account holders can claim their money. The bill does not allow the use of money for any public benefits. If, in the future, people want to see the money used for public benefits, the law will need to be amended as the current version limits the usage to only returning to owners," said Suwit Rojanavanich, FPO director-general.
He said the Finance Ministry is gathering opinions from the public hearing that will run through Nov 14 and will seek the cabinet's approval on the draft bill before being forwarded to be reviewed by the Council of State and deliberation by the National Legislative Assembly.
The draft bill is aimed at managing dormant accounts with more than 2,000 baht per bank account, he said.
Banks are permitted to deduct monthly account maintenance fees of 50 baht to maintain accounts that have been dormant for one year and have outstanding deposits of under 2,000 baht until the balance is depleted.
Handling dormant accounts will be a boon to banks as it will reduce bank costs to maintain inactive accounts and reduce their burden for deposit contributions, while alerting depositors to take their money back, he said.
Commercial banks are taxed 0.47% of their deposits, of which 0.46% goes to repay the rescue fund's debt of more than 1 trillion baht, and the remaining 0.01% goes to the Deposit Protection Agency. The four state-owned banks are subject to a surcharge of 0.18% of their deposits for a fund to develop specialised financial institutions.
Mr Suwit also dismissed speculation that went viral on social media that the government wants to seize money in dormant accounts as it is going broke. He said that the money in dormant accounts is estimated to be 10 billion baht, which is minimal when compared to the annual budget of trillions of baht.
The FPO recently said the state's financial position is still solid, with Treasury reserves of 523.8 billion baht at the end of September.
more..
www.bangkokpost.com/business/finance/1352303/dormant-account-move-scheduled-for-2018
Dormant account move scheduled for 2018
Officials insist money will not be put to use
Published: 1/11/2017 at 08:18 AM
Newspaper section: Business
A law on pooling money parked in bank accounts that have been inactive for at least 10 years into the Finance Ministry's suspense accounts is expected to be enforced in October next year at the earliest, the head of the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) said, and the law will restrict the money from such accounts to only be used to return money to account holders.
"Even after 10 or 20 years, [dormant] account holders can claim their money. The bill does not allow the use of money for any public benefits. If, in the future, people want to see the money used for public benefits, the law will need to be amended as the current version limits the usage to only returning to owners," said Suwit Rojanavanich, FPO director-general.
He said the Finance Ministry is gathering opinions from the public hearing that will run through Nov 14 and will seek the cabinet's approval on the draft bill before being forwarded to be reviewed by the Council of State and deliberation by the National Legislative Assembly.
The draft bill is aimed at managing dormant accounts with more than 2,000 baht per bank account, he said.
Banks are permitted to deduct monthly account maintenance fees of 50 baht to maintain accounts that have been dormant for one year and have outstanding deposits of under 2,000 baht until the balance is depleted.
Handling dormant accounts will be a boon to banks as it will reduce bank costs to maintain inactive accounts and reduce their burden for deposit contributions, while alerting depositors to take their money back, he said.
Commercial banks are taxed 0.47% of their deposits, of which 0.46% goes to repay the rescue fund's debt of more than 1 trillion baht, and the remaining 0.01% goes to the Deposit Protection Agency. The four state-owned banks are subject to a surcharge of 0.18% of their deposits for a fund to develop specialised financial institutions.
Mr Suwit also dismissed speculation that went viral on social media that the government wants to seize money in dormant accounts as it is going broke. He said that the money in dormant accounts is estimated to be 10 billion baht, which is minimal when compared to the annual budget of trillions of baht.
The FPO recently said the state's financial position is still solid, with Treasury reserves of 523.8 billion baht at the end of September.
more..
www.bangkokpost.com/business/finance/1352303/dormant-account-move-scheduled-for-2018
