Bank accounts to be inoperable after 6 months of inactivity

From now, bank accounts with six months of inactivity, will become inoperable, according to a central bank circular issued on Tuesday to the managing directors of all scheduled banks in the country.  

The Bangladesh Bank came up with the decision for all sorts of current, short notice deposit (SND) and savings accounts.

An inoperable account means an account which is partially operable. 

After the six-months of inactivity, current and short notice deposit bank accounts will become inoperable, according to the Bangladesh bank circular.

After six more months, the SND and current accounts will be considered a dormant account, which means the account cannot be used without official permission.

For the savings account, it will take time at least 18 months to be considered a dormant account.   

However, government bank accounts for minor and court-related accounts will not be considered as dormant accounts beyond the period specified, according to the Bangladesh Bank guideline.

In an observation, the central bank said that recently the banks are following different guidelines in operating dormant accounts. To avoid customer harassment, the regulator is going to implement a unified guideline for operating dormant accounts.    

Bangladesh Bank also mentioned that some banks are charging customers for dormant accounts. 

In this regard, the central bank urged the banks to follow the unified guideline introduced by the regulator and not to charge for the reactivation of dormant accounts.

To reactivate a dormant account (current, short notice deposit and savings) the customer has to submit a written application to the branch manager.

The branch manager has the authority to reactivate the account after scrutinising the account information.

Moreover, if the last bank account transaction has taken place less than five years ago, then for reopening the account, the holder must ensure a know your customer (KYC) process, according to the guideline.

The banks will inform individual and institutional account holders through SMS, email or letter one month before making the account dormant. All the conditions of a dormant account guideline have to be clear at the bank account opening form, the central bank circular added.