Switzerland makes public 2,600 dormant accounts; 4 from India

Zurich: At least four individuals from India on Wednesday figured in a list of unclaimed bank accounts made public by Switzerland which contains over 2,600 accounts and 80 safe deposit boxes. The total holding in these accounts is estimated at about 44 million Swiss franc (about Rs 300 crore), but the specific figure for the accounts of people from India was not disclosed.

Of the four Indian, place of residence of two has been mentioned as India, while it is Paris (France) for one. The place of residence for the fourth person was not disclosed. These include Pierre Vachek, whose residence is mentioned as 'Bombay', the earlier name of Mumbai, Bahadur Chandra Singh from Dehradun, Dr Mohan Lal from Paris and Kishore Lall. The date of birth has also been disclosed in one case -- that is for Vachek.

The relatives and heirs of these persons will have 1-5 years to submit their claims for these accounts, the Swiss Banking Ombudsman and the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) said. This is the first time that Switzerland has published such a list that is aimed at giving their owners' heirs a chance to claim the funds in these accounts. Only those accounts form part of this list which have got at least 500 Swiss francs and have remained unclaimed at least 60 years.

The list contains a large number of people from Switzerland itself, as also from Germany, France, the UK, the US, Turkey, Austria and various other countries. The list follows a new law in Switzerland that mandates publication of the names of the owners of very old dormant customer relationships on an annual basis starting 2015. "If no legitimate party claims the assets that have been published within one year of publication, the banks must by law transfer the assets in question to the government," SBA said.

The claim deadline for potential legitimate claimants is five years if the assets in question have been dormant since at least 1954. "The number of names published in December 2015 is just over 2,600; connected to these names, there are currently assets of around CHF 44 millions. Additionally, around 80 safe-deposit boxes are currently published," SBA said.