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MTN transfers Shs42.7b in dormant accounts to BoU
At least 9.35 million mobile money accounts were declared dormant during the period between 2009 and December 2022. Photo / Edgar R Batte
What you need to know:
- A mobile money account, MTN said, is declared dormant after 450 days or 15 months of being inactive
- Details indicate that the Shs42.7b covered the period between 2009 and 2022. At least Shs35b held in 7.51 million mobile money accounts had been accumulated between 2009 and 2021.
MTN transferred Shs42.7b to Bank of Uganda held in 9.35 million dormant mobile money accounts during the period ended December 2022.
The telecom told Monitor yesterday that if the account remains inactive, it engages a subscriber at the ninth month of dormancy, after which, if it remains inactive for the next six months, it is declared dormant.
Details provided by Mr Richard Yego, the MTN Mobile Money managing director, further indicated that the Shs42.7b covered the period between 2009 and 2022.
At least Shs35b held in 7.51 million mobile money accounts had been accumulated between 2009 and 2021.
A mobile money account, MTN said, is declared dormant after 450 days or 15 months of being inactive.
The law now requires telecoms to transfer any money held in dormant accounts to Bank of Uganda.
During 2022, MTN reported 1.83 million dormant mobile money accounts, which held at least Shs7.68b.
Money in dormant accounts can only be redeemed by a third party if the owner of the account has been declared dead.
However, the National Payment Systems Act requires third party claimant to obtain legal representation.
Incidences of telecoms preventing third parties without legal representation from claiming money in accounts of deceased people have been reported.
However, the National Payment Systems Act provides a procedure through which such money can be redeemed and guides on how a telecom can declare a mobile money or electronic money account dormant.
Mr Yego said the dormancy in mobile money accounts mostly results from death yet many surviving relatives may not be aware of how to claim money held in a deceased person’s account.
“Some people never follow up. But because the process is long, by the time it ends the mobile money account might have fallen in the dormancy bracket. You have to provide evidence of whether there was a family meeting guided by the head of the family and administrator general,” he said, noting that the claimant must have a death certificate and letters of administration that authorise them to administer the deceased’s estate.
The National Payment systems Act requires telecoms to notify a subscriber, whose account has been inactive for nine months, of a pending suspension “unless there is a transaction on such an account” , after which the account is blocked and there after suspended.
In the event that the account is not reactivated within six months, it is closed and any money on it is transferred to Bank of Uganda, where it is held before it is transferred to the Consolidated Fund if not claimed by the owner or a legal representative.
Monthly average in dormant accounts
Details indicate that on average MTN recorded Shs640m in dormant accounts per month last year while between January and March an average of 100,000 dormant accounts worth Shs350m were recorded.
