Treasury proposes phased overhaul to recover R88bn in unclaimed retirement and other assets

The assets include dormant bank accounts, unclaimed retirement benefits, unpaid dividends, and investment and insurance proceeds.

The proposal explores whether a co-ordinated national approach could improve governance, transparency, and the ability for people to reclaim money that belongs to them. At present, unclaimed assets are managed separately by different parts of the financial services industry.

Treasury's paper examines governance models, institutional responsibilities, and safeguards to protect rightful owners while improving oversight.

It proposes that the funds be invested with the Corporation for Public Deposits (CPD), a subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank responsible for managing public deposits from various governmental entities.

In 2022, the estimated value of these assets was R88bn.

Phased reform approach

The proposed reforms to address unclaimed financial assets will be implemented in phases, commencing with unclaimed retirement benefits and subsequently extending to other sectors.

To complement this paper, a representative working group comprising various stakeholders has been established, chaired by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), to examine the feasibility of a digital retirement dashboard for South Africa. It will consider and evaluate potential approaches to enable easier access to retirement savings information for retirement-fund members and improve data quality and efficiencies across the retirement funds industry.

The proposed retirement dashboard may complement the unclaimed assets reforms by helping retirement fund members locate and track their benefits more easily, improving data quality and reducing the risk of benefits becoming unclaimed in future.

For South Africa's financial services industry, the consultation could have wide-ranging implications, from reporting requirements to tracing beneficiaries. For consumers, it could make it easier to recover forgotten funds. And for policy watchers, it opens up questions about transparency, efficiency, and balancing regulation with consumer benefit.

National Treasury invites written comments on the proposals set out in the discussion paper and particularly the discussion questions. Submissions should be limited to 10 pages and sent to Alvinah Thela at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Saturday, 19 September 2026.