Switzerland makes public 2,600 dormant a/c; 6 from India

In the first such disclosure, Switzerland today made public names of over 2,600 individuals having unclaimed bank accounts including at least six from India.
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 six from India, place of residence of four has been mentioned as India, while it is Paris (France) for one. The place of residence for the sixth person was not disclosed. However, three of them appear to be foreign origin persons.
These include Pierre Vachek, Charlotte Spencer and Rosmarie Bernet, all of whom have been mentioned as residents of 'Bombay', the earlier name of Mumbai.

Bahadur Chandra Singh has been mentioned as resident of Dehradun, while Dr Mohan Lal has been shown as a Paris resident. The residence of Kishore Lall has not been disclosed. The dates of birth have also been disclosed in some cases, while nationality of Spencer has been shown as German.
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.