Unclaimed Financial Assets of 18 Trillion Won... 'Hidden Asset Recovery Campaign'

The Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service announced on the 12th that from the 13th of this month until the 22nd of next month, they will conduct the "Hidden Financial Assets Recovery Campaign" together with all financial sectors to enable financial consumers to more easily check and recover hidden financial assets worth 17.9 trillion won.

Hidden financial assets refer to financial assets that financial consumers have forgotten and not claimed for a long time, including dormant financial assets whose statute of limitations has expired, long-term inactive financial assets with no transactions for over three years, and unused card points. As of the end of June, hidden financial assets amounted to 17.9 trillion won, consisting of 1.6 trillion won in dormant financial assets, 13.6 trillion won in long-term inactive financial assets, and 2.6 trillion won in unused card points.

This campaign expands participating companies beyond banks, insurance companies, securities firms, card companies, and savings banks to include mutual finance sectors, aiming to help more financial consumers recover hidden financial assets. Additionally, long-term inactive "investor deposits" remaining in securities accounts have been added as targets of the campaign, alongside savings/deposits, insurance money, and card points.

During the campaign period, individual notifications through financial companies will be provided along with public promotions and events. Related organizations and financial companies (including mutual finance cooperatives) will post promotional materials at branches and on their websites and SNS channels, and send emails and text messages to individual customers to guide them on how to check and claim hidden financial assets.

However, related organizations and financial companies will not request personal information such as identification cards or account passwords via email or text messages, nor will they ask for money transfers as fees for refunds. They also will not provide separate internet addresses (URLs), so consumers should be cautious not to access URLs from unknown sources.

Financial consumers can inquire about hidden financial assets at individual financial company branches or customer centers, but they can more conveniently check hidden financial assets by accessing the internet homepage "Fine" or downloading the "Account Info" application on their mobile phones.

When using the "My Account at a Glance" service through the Financial Consumer Information Portal or app, consumers can check dormant and long-term inactive financial assets across all financial sectors. For deposit, savings, investor deposit, and trust accounts with balances under 1 million won and no transactions for over a year, immediate refunds are possible. Using the "My Card at a Glance" service through the same route, consumers can also check and convert unused card points into cash.

Individual and detailed inquiries about specific financial assets are also possible. The "Find My Sleeping Money" section on the Financial Consumer Information Portal organizes hidden financial asset inquiry sites operated by related organizations and financial associations. Since unclaimed insurance money (intermediate insurance money, maturity insurance money) not yet claimed from insurance companies or dividends generated after retrieving physical stock certificates from securities companies but before name transfer are not viewable on "My Account at a Glance," consumers should use "Find My Sleeping Money" for individual inquiries.

The financial authorities plan to continuously improve the hidden financial asset management system so that more financial consumers can easily and conveniently recover their valuable assets through this campaign.

According to the "Improvement Plan for Hidden Financial Asset Management Standards" prepared in the first half of this year, financial companies are strengthening guidance to financial consumers before and after the maturity of financial assets and designating and operating responsible organizations. Through this, consumers will be informed before maturity that the applicable interest rate will decrease and how to set up automatic deposit accounts at maturity. After maturity, they will be regularly informed about the applicable interest rate levels and how to check and claim hidden financial assets.