Dormant Bank Accounts in Ghana: Transfers and Claims

A current or savings account left unoperated for two years does not vanish, and it does not immediately move to the Bank of Ghana. Section 143 of the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930) works in two stages: a dormant-account register first, and a transfer of the balance only after three further years and advertising. This note explains those stages, what the Bank of Ghana's Unclaimed Balances and Dormant Accounts Directive of February 2021 adds, and how the money is claimed back.

When an account is treated as dormant

Section 143(1) applies where a current or savings account has not been operated for two years, or a time deposit has not been operated for two years after maturity. From then, a withdrawal is not made except with the permission of two authorised officers of the bank or specialised deposit-taking institution.

The 2021 Directive, issued under section 92 of Act 930 to operationalise section 143, defines the activity that counts. A deposit, a withdrawal, a transfer, a standing order, a direct debit or credit, and a payment out by the holder or the holder's legal representative all count. Interest credited automatically, and bank charges, do not. An account that only receives interest is not being operated.

The same two-year idea extends to a prepaid card and to other customer funds left unaccessed. A fixed deposit set to roll over must be re-identified, and consent renewed, once the rollover has run for more than three consecutive rollovers or two years, whichever is longer. If contact fails, those funds go to the dormant register. Where the same customer holds several accounts and only some are inactive, an inactive account may be kept off the register, provided the customer is told and responds.

The register, and the three years that follow

Section 143(2) requires the transfer to a separate dormant-account register, and written notice to the depositor at the last known address. Section 143(3) allows a service charge to continue, or interest to accrue, only up to that transfer. The Directive goes further for the institutions it covers: after transfer there is no service charge or account fee, and interest stops. Records must be kept, and the account stays covered by the Ghana Deposit Protection Scheme until the balance moves to the Bank of Ghana.

Contact is required at least three months before dormancy, at the last known address or by an agreed channel. If the holder cannot be found, the institution contacts the next of kin or another designated person, without disclosing the balance, and at its own cost. A next-of-kin nomination is a contact point. It is not a grant of the money, and it does not make that person the legal representative.

Reactivation needs identification. The request is in writing or in a form the institution specifies, and a withdrawal still needs two authorised officers, normally the branch manager and one other. No fee is charged for the request. Credits may still arrive, but no withdrawal is allowed until reactivation.

When the balance moves to the Bank of Ghana

Once the account has been on the register for three years, section 143(4) requires advertising in at least two daily newspapers of national circulation. Section 143(5) lets the depositor, or the legal representative if the depositor is dead or incapacitated, ask for the account to come off the register. After the three years and that advertising, section 143(6) requires the balance to be transferred to an account earmarked for the purpose at the Bank of Ghana.

The Directive sets the dates. Publication falls within six months after the three years. A virtual edition may be used, but a print notice in at least two national dailies must point readers to it, and the list stays on the institution's website for at least fourteen calendar days. Published details are limited to the holder's name, the branch and the date of dormancy. The transfer waits twenty-one calendar days after publication and must be made by the twenty-eighth. The holder is not charged for publication.

The Directive's notice template speaks of five years. That is the two stages added together, not a single rule, and the register entry, the advertising and the wait after publication all still have to happen.

How the money is reclaimed

Section 143(7) requires the Bank of Ghana, on a request, to refund an unclaimed balance to the depositor, or if the depositor is dead, to the legal representative. The original institution displays the reclaim process in its banking halls. A holder who asks that institution has the claim validated and submitted to the Bank of Ghana within five working days. A claim made at the Bank of Ghana itself is validated in consultation with the institution. The refund goes to an account of the claimant at that institution, and it is the exact amount received, with no interest added.

Estates, exclusions and the institution's records

Where the depositor has died, sections 143(5) and 143(7) give the claim to the legal representative, not to the next of kin. A person claiming for an estate should expect to produce a grant or other authority. What a given institution accepts is for that institution to say.

The Directive excludes accounts in litigation, accounts under fraud investigation, accounts under a lien or other encumbrance, and accounts in credit only because of an error under investigation. It also allows different treatment below an amount set by the Bank of Ghana; no figure was verified, so none is stated. Section 143 and this Directive govern banks and specialised deposit-taking institutions, not mobile-money wallets.

A breach of the Directive attracts an administrative penalty of not more than ten thousand penalty units. That is an administrative sanction, not a criminal offence on the text, and no cedi figure is stated here.

A note on the text

Section 143 is quoted from a full copy of Act 930 as enacted in 2016, not a Gazette consolidation. The Bank of Ghana's own PDF of the Act was unavailable, and the Ghana Legal Information Institute copy could not be read. Act 967 of 2018 is reported to amend Act 930, but nothing verified here shows a change to section 143, and none is asserted. A 2026 Bank of Ghana statement that an amendment was in process is intent, not enacted law.

Practical points

• Two years without customer-initiated activity, then three years on the register, then advertising, then transfer between day twenty-one and day twenty-eight after publication. Do not collapse these into one five-year rule.
• Automatic interest does not keep an account alive, and interest stops on the dormant register.
• Ask the original institution first. Validation and submission to the Bank of Ghana take five working days, and reactivation itself carries no fee.
• The refund is the exact amount received by the Bank of Ghana, without interest, and a deceased depositor's claim belongs to the legal representative.
• Litigation, a fraud investigation, a pledge or an unresolved error takes the account outside this timetable.

The banking and finance practice at Ohene Gyan & Associates advises institutions and customers on regulatory questions of this kind. A disputed balance, or an estate that needs authority to claim, deserves advice on the particular facts rather than a general reading of section 143. Contact the firm to discuss it.

This note is general information on Act 930 and the Bank of Ghana's 2021 Directive. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for the current text of the Act or for advice on a particular account or estate.