Draft:Reclaim Fund

Reclaim Fund Ltd (RFL) is a limited company owned by HM Treasury which operates the Dormant Assets Scheme (DAS) in the United Kingdom.

RFL's role is to receive assets from financial institutions which are deemed to be dormant, where the accounts have not been accessed for a set period of time (normally 15 years or more) and owners cannot be traced. RFL holds enough funds to guarantee any future reclaims of dormant assets, with all surplus funds transferred to the National Lottery Community Fund for distribution to good causes.

History
Following the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008, the Cooperative Group agreed with the UK Government to establish a reclaim fund to hold dormant assets. RFL was subsequently created in 2011 to receive monies from dormant bank and building society accounts.

In 2019 the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reclassified RFL as a public body. Following this decision, ownership of RFL was transferred to HM Treasury in 2021. The Dormant Assets Act 2022 expanded the scheme to also cover the insurance and pension policies, investment and wealth management products and UK publicly listed shares.

By 2023 RFL had received £1.6bn from dormant accounts, with £900m transferred to good causes and £700m retained to cover potential payments to owners reclaiming their dormant funds. It was predicted that a further £880m could be available to RFL following the 2022 Act.