Royal Mail helps trace dormant account holders

Royal Mail has developed a solution to help banks and building societies proactively trace dormant account holders using more than 16 million records from its database of home movers.

Using data compiled from its Mail Redirection service over the past 16 years, Royal Mail has tested its dormant account tracing service with a number of financial companies, with a success rate of up to 60 per cent.

Leonora Corden, Royal Mail’s Head of Market development, said: “People moving home without telling their financial provider is one of the key reasons for an account or investment becoming dormant and our unique information on people who have moved home over the past 16 years helps us identify them.”

The Commission of Unclaimed Assets’ yesterday launched a comprehensive campaign to reunite owners of dormant accounts with their money. This follows the Economic Secretary’s proposal to release unclaimed capital from dormant accounts to a newly created social Investment Bank charged with stepping up the fight against poverty and social exclusion. There is currently an estimated £15 billion in dormant accounts across the UK.

Leonora Corden added: “Royal Mail will be actively talking to financial organisations over the coming weeks to explain exactly how we can help them meet The Commission of Unclaimed Assets’ challenge. We are very confident, as a result of recent rigorous testing, that we can help banks and building societies identify customers that other trace mechanisms can’t.

“Tracing lost customers isn’t just an opportunity for financial organisations to demonstrate that they are acting fairly and responsibly towards their customers, it also represents a business opportunity. It will give banks and building societies the opportunity to re-establish contact with customers and encourage them to reinvest the dormant funds or consider other products. The ‘feel good’ factor of reuniting a customer with money they may not be aware of has the potential to improve customer relationships with their financial providers.”