After five years from the last client's transaction, banks will be required to check if the customer is alive – according to the draft amendment to the banking law, which was published on Wednesday. The purpose of this change is to enable the heirs to obtain information about funds collected in banks faster.
On Wednesday, a draft amendment to banking law was published on the pages of the Government Legislation Center. Prepared by Ministry of Finance The proposal of new regulations concerns banks' proceedings in the event of a client's death.
A new obligation for banks
“In accordance with the proposed provision, up to 5 years from the date of the last order regarding the account conducted on the basis of the contract (…), the bank will be obliged to apply to the minister competent for computerization for providing data from the PESEL register enabling determining whether the account holder is alive, and in the case of his death – the date of death” – states in the justification to the project.
“It is suggested that banks be required to obtain information about the date of death of customers directly from the PESEL register, which will allow you to quickly close the so -called dormant accounts. Therefore, the heirs will get information about the accumulated funds faster and the risk of payments to unauthorized persons will be limited,” said in the justification to the project.
More accounts, expiry of the contract
According to MF proposal, if the customer in a given bank had more than one account, then the period of five years has been from the last disposition regarding the customer's accounts.
The proposed regulations also refer to the situation when the account of keeping the account has expired and the customer did not leave the payment of funds. “(…) by 3 months from the date of expiry of the bank account agreement, (…) concluded for a definite period, in the absence of prior disposal of the payment of cash, the bank is obliged to apply to the minister competent for computerization about the disclosure of data from the PESEL register enabling determining whether the account holder is alive, and in the case of his death – the date of death” – wrote in the justification.
The bank will provide the heir's information
The planned regulation contains a provision that indicates the scope of information provided by the bank to the bank account holder, who is a natural person, a person who obtained a legal title to a inheritance after the account holder, and a successful manager. The Ministry of Finance emphasized in the justification that in the current legal status it was difficult to “perform the obligation to provide information against accounts earlier than the maximum periods of storage of account information resulting from the current legal provisions.” “The procedure for providing collective information by the bank has been simplified, which consists in releasing banks from the provision of collective information in relation to the bank account agreements of the terminated or extinct holder, in which it has already expired, resulting from separate provisions, the appropriate period required for storing by the Bank related to these contracts of information and documents” – reads in the justification. The draft also includes changes in the Act on population records, thanks to which banks will be informed not only about the fact of the customer's death, as it is today, but also about the date of the customer's death. The planned act is to come into force after 14 days from the date of its announcement.
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