The Banking Amendment (Unclaimed Money) Bill 2013 has passed both Houses and is awaiting Royal Assent (Background).

The new law amends the Banking Act to allow ADIs to exclude reactivated accounts from their reporting statement and unclaimed moneys payment to the Commonwealth for future years and the supplementary reporting and payment due on 31 May 2013.

It also allows the Treasurer to provide refunds directly to the ADIs who submit unclaimed moneys unnecessarily, such as payment for reactivated accounts.

Banking Amendment Regulation 2013 (No. 2) specifies that the unclaimed moneys provision does not apply “if the holder of an account, or an agent of the holder, has notified the ADI, within the previous 3 years, that the holder wishes to treat the account as active”.