I put it down and forgot: Russians don't remember their deposits

The Russian banking sector uses money in "forgotten" and abandoned accounts and earns money from them, said Lazar Badalov, associate professor at the Faculty of Economics at RUDN University. The total volume of these deposits and accounts, which none of the individuals can reach, reaches billions of rubles, he says. Izvestia investigated which of them can be considered abandoned, what relatives can expect, and how much money they are talking about.

Where do the "forgotten" accounts come from?

Current, accumulative and deposit accounts are considered abandoned, for which there have been no transactions for a long time (for several years), Ilya Frenchov, a lawyer in the field of civil rights protection, told Izvestia. However, there is no clear legal definition of a "forgotten account."

— The criterion of "abandonment" of the account is not only the absence of transactions or customer requests to the bank, but also the inability of the credit institution to update information about the customer (according to the law, this should be done annually). The Bank of Russia explicitly prohibits operations on the account if the information is outdated," says the lawyer.

As a rule, these are accounts with very small balances (from a few kopecks to several thousand rubles). Or the accounts of the owners with whom something happened: they urgently left the country or their region without completing their case, ended up in places of detention, in hospitals, became disabled as a result of an accident or died. The third scenario is that the accounts were simply forgotten.

According to Yulia Makarenko, deputy director of the Banking Development Institute, fully capable people can open deposits, especially for pensioners, but then some events happen, after which people can be declared incompetent. For example, after a severe stroke.

— In this case, the bank reviews the relevant court decision and closes access to accounts for everyone except the legal representative. A guardianship permit is issued by the local guardianship authority. If we are talking about very small amounts, the guardians may not want to contact the banks at all, and the accounts will remain abandoned forever," she said.

The existence of abandoned accounts is a working situation for banks. Balances on current accounts and deposits make up the bank's liquidity, which is used as part of its subsequent placement (securities, real estate, currency, etc.) or the issuance of loans, for example, says Andrey Shulga, Chairman of the Management Board of Finam Bank.

— In most cases, the total amount of funds in such accounts is not key to the total liquidity of banks, but it can reach hundreds of millions or billions of rubles. Of course, there are no legal restrictions on their use by banks. And the owner of such accounts is free to use them at any time: transfer them to another bank, spend them, or deposit them. Relatives get the right to access such accounts if they have a power of attorney from the account holder or within the framework of existing procedures, for example, in the case of inheritance," he says.

The situation with forgotten accounts really exists and has been going on since Soviet times, says Alexey Voylukov, an MBA professor of business practice in digital finance at the Presidential Academy.

— The total volume in Russia is unknown, but according to some reports, it may reach up to 0.5 trillion rubles. There are no accurate statistics and there cannot be: a number of banks consider an account abandoned after six months of non—use, others recognize it as such after 5-10 years," he suggested.

Izvestia sent inquiries to Russia's largest banks regarding the amount of funds in such accounts, but had received no responses by the time of publication.

Hereditary business

Banks freely use funds in the accounts of citizens who have been declared dead for six months before the heirs take over their rights and receive an inheritance certificate.

— At the same time, banks learn about the death of customers promptly, as information from the registry office is sent to the tax authorities. A testamentary disposition, which the depositor leaves directly in the bank during his lifetime, helps to simplify the task of distributing funds between applicants for monetary property," Yulia Makarenko said.

At the same time, relatives may try to cheat, says Marina Nikitkova, managing partner of LAGOMLEX law firm.

— Immediately after the client's death and before the information about it is received by the bank, there is a time lag of two to three days, when relatives can illegally use a power of attorney at the bank's office (if it was issued) or withdraw funds from the deceased's card at an ATM. This is illegal, but banks turn a blind eye to withdrawing small amounts," the lawyer says.

The product solves

Exactly how much money relatives of deceased depositors can expect depends on the banking product, Marina Nikitkova believes.

— For example, if an accumulative perpetual account is opened, interest will continue to accrue on it according to the bank's tariff policy until it is closed by a representative of the client's family. If this is a deposit from the bank's permanent line of deposits, then the deposit is automatically extended after the expiration date and interest accrual — on general terms, as if the client simply did not come for it," she says.

As the lawyer notes, the most unfavorable situation is the end of an urgent stock deposit, which is not from the standard product line. The sooner the deposit period ends before the inheritance case is resolved, the longer the money will remain in the "on demand" account without the possibility for relatives to make this money work: it will not be possible to transfer it at a favorable percentage.

Write it off as unnecessary?

Some banks introduce special fees for servicing near-zero abandoned accounts, gradually zeroing out such accounts.

However, as Ilya Frenchov explains, this is illegal: the funds in the "abandoned" account are still the property of the client, and the bank cannot dispose of them except by lawful order of the owner or his representative.

— The Bank of Russia has repeatedly explained that it is illegal to write off any fees from "abandoned" accounts, and regulation No. 499-P prohibits any write-offs on such accounts (for example, on a loan) if the client's data has not been updated. Without special legal grounds (bankruptcy, bank reorganization), credit institutions are not entitled to independently use the funds of "abandoned" accounts and unilaterally conduct operations on the account, he argues.

According to Russian law, banks are allowed to apply special procedures for handling such funds, Ilya Vasilchuk, a judicial lawyer and an expert on the security of electronic transactions and real estate transactions, told Izvestia.

— Firstly, according to Federal Law No. 115 "On Countering Money Laundering", if the account holder does not perform any operations for a long time, the bank is obliged to notify the client of the possible closure of the account. After notification and no reaction from the client, the bank has the right to close the account and transfer funds to a special internal deposit of the bank," said Ilya Vasilchuk.

859 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the bank has the right to terminate a bank deposit or current account agreement if the client does not make movements on the account for a long time, the lawyer continues. According to him, the funds from the account will be transferred to the bank's internal balance and stored there for a certain time, usually for several years, until the client requests them back.

As for the procedure for closing the account and requesting funds, the bank must notify the client in writing about the impending closure of the account and the consequences, the lawyer added. Then the funds are stored in the bank for a certain period, often about three to five years - if the account holder is not announced during this period, the funds are transferred to the state's income, he concluded.

You can't lose money.

According to Alexey Voylukov, banks don't actually make money from "forgotten" money as such.

— The banking model is the same for all deposits: banks accept customer funds and use them to issue loans, investments and other income-generating assets. At the same time, banks do not divide money between "active" depositors and those who have not accessed their accounts for decades. But if you try to assess the economics of such deposits, it turns out that servicing accounts with penny balances is unprofitable for the bank. Accounting, charging even minimal interest at the on—demand rate, and trying to track down customers are all costly. In some cases, the cost of maintaining the account exceeds the income that the bank can receive from this money," he said.

According to the expert, banks have repeatedly raised the issue of the fate of really abandoned accounts, for which there has been no movement for decades, and customers cannot be found, despite all attempts.

— Options for transferring such funds to the state budget or other solutions to the problem were discussed. But this is a difficult question," he said.