News

New summary on the Unclaimed Financial Assets Act

Do you work for a Bank, Company or other financial institution that holds assets whose owners are unknown or untraceable? Kenyan law has now developed a new framework for collecting and dealing with such assets with the recent passing of the Unclaimed Financial Assets Act, 2011 ("UFAA").

Kenya has never had any comprehensive law governing the handling and disposition of unclaimed assets. UFAA seeks to provide public awareness as well as conform to international best practice with respect to the handling of monies, finance and assets held by banks and financial institutions. The Act makes it possible for data concerning unclaimed assets to be made public via searchable databases, giving genuine claimants an equal right to the information. Further, the Act seeks to benefit widows and orphans whose benefactors die intestate by entitling them to the benefactor’s assets.

The need for the implementation of the Act is a result of large sums of money, represented as unclaimed assets, held by banks and other financial institutions in the country. The Act seeks to provide a framework for reporting and dealing with such assets.

Please read the article by Shitul Shah and Smita Sharma in our Articles section of this website for more information.