Customers who haven't touched their account funds in 15 years or more are being tracked down by HSBC.
HSBC is to ramp up its dormant accounts scheme, the bank has indicated.
According to the firm, it is currently writing to around 12,000 customers who have left monies untouched in their accounts for more than 15 years. In addition, it is seeking out the address details of a further 5,000 dormant account holders who have moved home since the bank last contacted them.
The move has been made in the run-up to the introduction of new government legislation, which comes into effect next year. The laws will oblige banks to transfer all funds which have been untouched for 15 years into a central account, which will then be used for public spending.
Despite this, the law will contain provisions for any account holder to get their money back at any time from this central fund.
Carlos Wanderley, general manager at HSBC Customer Propositions, said: "We are planning a sustained campaign of correspondence, active tracing, advertising and publicity. We will also be conducting research into the primary causes of account dormancy, which we hope will allow us - and the industry - to model accounts that are most likely to become dormant in future."
He added: "It is quite possible that some owners of these funds are well aware it is there as some people do leave their money untouched for long periods. Obviously we're happy to hold it for them for as long as they like, but we would like to hear from them so that we can ensure that it is working effectively for them."
HSBC said that 276 out of the 17,000 dormant accounts hold around 40 percent of total monies. This equates to around £9 million.
