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Unclaimed Sh3.8bn, 407 million shares surrendered to the State
Ufaa stepped up publicity campaigns that have seen companies unable to trace owners of assets such as shares and cash hand them over to the State agency to avoid penalties.
Companies surrendered 407 million shares of unknown value and Sh3.8 billion in cash to the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (Ufaa) in the financial year ended June 2024, piling pressure on the agency to unify these assets with their owners and beneficiaries.
Ufaa’s latest disclosures show that while the cash received from various firms dropped by 15 percent from Sh4.5 billion collected in the previous financial year, the number of shares remitted by companies nearly tripled from 150 million.
The continued remittance from firms comes after Ufaa stepped up publicity campaigns that have seen companies unable to trace owners of assets such as shares and cash hand them over to the State agency to avoid penalties.
Ufaa had targeted to collect Sh4.5 billion and 300 million shares in the review period, surpassing the target on shares but falling short on cash collections.
“Overachievement [of number of shares received] was due to the awareness programme on holders of unclaimed assets,” said Ufaa in the submissions to National Treasury.
The law allows Ufaa to charge any entity that fails to surrender unclaimed assets a penalty of 25 percent of the assets held. It also allows Ufaa to charge a penalty of between Sh7,000 and Sh50,000 for each day the assets are held before being surrendered.
Despite Ufaa’s push to get firms to surrender these assets, the proportion of unclaimed financial assets reunited with owners or beneficiaries remains low.
Ufaa data shows as at end of September this year, it had received cumulative remittances of Sh32.2 billion from holders, of which about Sh1.17 billion was in foreign currencies and the rest in Kenyan shillings.
The entity also holds 1.7 billion shares, 3,740 safe deposit boxes and 9.9 million unit trusts.
The Unclaimed Assets Trust, which holds the cash and non-cash assets, had in the year ended June 2022 valued the shares it held then at Sh25 billion.
Ufaa puts the percentage of unclaimed financial assets reunited with the rightful owners at six percent at the close of June this year, an improvement from 3.7 percent in a similar period last year.
The authority is targeting to collect at least Sh5 billion in cash in the financial year starting July 2025 and a minimum of 150 million shares in the same period. It also aims to reunite owners with at least 10 percent of the assets it holds.
Ufaa hopes to remit Sh5 billion in cash and 350 million shares is in the current financial year ending June 2024, to help it achieve a reunification rate of 5.5 percent.
A person claiming an interest in any assets paid or delivered to the Ufaa is required to file a claim with the authority. Ufaa takes up to 90 days to process the claims and give notice to the claimant of its decision.
Currently, all claims require the same process, making it cumbersome for individuals with small value claims on the fund, which largely discourages most people from pursuing their idle assets.
