Another $32M Canadian goes missing in action

$32M is a lot of money for a country of some 34.8 million.
(Bringing the total to .......$465M just in the Bank of Canada alone)

Yes!, that's the amount of the (net) increase in unclaimed $ Canadian accounts based on the balance that the the Bank of Canada has reported that they have as of December 2011. Actually, according to the Bank of Canada, they paid out $15.8M to account holders in 2011, so the actual increase in the year was closer to $50M....I am not sure if I am the only one that tracks these increases, year to year but it's a worry.

Not that I am tracking it..but that Canada is not doing anything about ensuring that Canadians don't lose track of their hard earned/tax paid dollars.

The Bank of Canada administers unclaimed chartered bank balances pursuant to the federal Bank Act . "Unclaimed balances" for the Bank of Canada are Canadian-dollar only deposits or negotiable instruments, issued or held by a federally regulated bank or trust company. It can be in the form of a deposit account, bank draft, certified cheque, deposit receipt, money order, GIC, term deposit, credit card balance, or traveler’s cheque.

Unclaimed balances at the Bank of Canada do not include:

Deposits in any currency other than Canadian, RRSP's, Credit Union Accounts, Canada Savings Bonds or the contents of safety deposit boxes . There is no official reporting for these numbers...one can only guess.

Balances become “unclaimed” when there has been no owner activity in relation to the balance for a period of 10 years, and the owner cannot be contacted by the institution holding it, the balance is turned over to the Bank of Canada, which acts as custodian on behalf of the owner.  

Such balances are transferred to the Bank of Canada once a year, on 31 December. The Bank of Canada will maintain custody of $1,000 or more for 100 years, until claimed. Unclaimed balances under $1,000 are retained for 40 years (thirty years at the Bank of Canada in addition to the ten years held by the original Canadian bank holder)

But enough of the preamble onto the numbers....a $32M increase in unclaimed Candian $ accounts from Dec 2010 to Dec 2011. That's a 7.39% net increase...and people need to start talking about it and doing something about it.

Bank of Canada Unclaimed Funds	Not including Credit Unions or Non CDN deposits
Balance at Dec 2011	1.3 million accounts totaling $465 million up 7.39% in 1 year
Balance at Dec 2010	1.3 million accounts totaling $433 million up 9.62% in 1 year
Balance at Dec 2009	1.3 million accounts totaling $395 million up 23.44% in 2 years
Balance at Dec 2007	938,000 accounts totaling    $320 million
4 Year increase	362,000 accounts totaling    $145 million up 45.3% in 4 years
Balance at Dec 1998	770,000 accounts totaling $132 Million
13 Year increase	530,000 accounts totaling $333 Million up 352% in 13 years
13 Year increase in value %	352%