#2014-617Law on Inactive Bank Accounts and Unclaimed Life Insurance Contracts
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This law mandates that banks and financial institutions in France identify and keep track of inactive accounts and unclaimed life insurance contracts. If no activity is recorded in these accounts for a certain period, the funds will be moved to a public financial institution, La Caisse des Dépôts. The law aims to protect dormant assets and requires financial institutions to regularly inform account holders and beneficiaries about the status of their accounts.
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Key Changes
- Banks must identify inactive accounts annually.
- Funds from inactive accounts are transferred to La Caisse des Dépôts.
- Regular notifications to account holders and beneficiaries are required.
Obligations
What this law requires
Credit institutions, electronic money institutions, and payment institutions must conduct an annual census of inactive accounts in their records and classify accounts as inactive based on defined criteria (12 months or 5 years of no activity depending on account type)
Financial institutions must notify account holders, legal representatives, authorized persons, or known beneficiaries by any available means when an account is classified as inactive, and must inform them of the consequences under Articles L. 312-19 and L. 312-20
Financial institutions must consult the national identification repository annually to identify deceased account holders with inactive accounts, in accordance with data protection law (Law n° 78-17 of January 6, 1978)
Financial institutions must publish annually the number of inactive accounts in their records and the total amount of deposits and assets held in these accounts
Financial institutions must deposit funds from inactive accounts to La Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations after 10 years of inactivity (or 3 years if account holder is deceased), and must liquidate financial instruments within this timeframe