The transfer of funds from abandoned personal accounts to a government fund has sparked criticism.
Currently, there are intense discussions in Germany about billions of euros that lie untouched, known as 'nachrichtenlose Konten' – accounts that have not recorded any activity for many years. These accounts have no known active owner, and the federal government wants to access and use this money.
According to the Finanztip platform, Sparkasse Dortmund alone had around 250,000 bank accounts without an owner in 2019. There is no central register for accounts in Germany, but estimates suggest there are several million of these accounts nationwide, which means an amount of money that could reach billions.
According to the MDR report, the coalition agreement between the Union and SPD states that in the future, capital from these accounts will be transferred to a government fund. The declared goal: to finance social projects from this money. However, the practical implementation is still unclear. The main obstacle is that German law does not yet include a precise definition of when an account is considered 'unbeweglich' – that is, inactive or abandoned: Is it after five years of inactivity? Or ten? Or twenty?
Thorsten Höche, the chief legal advisor at the Deutscher Bankenverband – the German Banking Association – warns of the lack of a clear legal basis. According to him, there are only estimates of the actual amount of money, ranging from two to nine billion euros. He also points out that any access or seizure of these accounts is an infringement of property rights. The danger lies in the possibility that some account holders may be alive, and their money is mistakenly treated as 'ownerless'.
Other criticisms come from specialists in Nachlass – inheritance matters. In a comment on the MDR report, one Nachlasspfleger – the estate administrators – wrote that he is professionally engaged in searching for the legal heirs of 'nachrichtenlose Konten', reminding that Erbrecht – the right of inheritance – is guaranteed in Article 14, paragraph 1 of the Grundgesetz – the German Basic Law. Accordingly, the direct seizure of these funds by the state without a serious search for the heirs 'dürfte verfassungswidrig sein' – may be unconstitutional.
In an attempt to address part of the problem, the Bundesregierung launched a new legislative process last year. Under the bill BT-Drs. 21/1396, a Register – a central public register at the Bundesamt für Justiz – the Federal Office of Justice – is to be established. This register will allow heirs to search for 'forgotten' accounts and investment portfolios belonging to the deceased, in order to return the funds to the rightful owners. The stated goal here is not to confiscate the money, but to find it and distribute it correctly.
Nevertheless, the most sensitive aspect of the political discussion remains the idea looming on the horizon: not just recording these accounts, but actually using their funds through a Fonds - a special fund for projects. In the official communication documents of the government in the Bundestag, there is already reference to a 'weitergehenden Ansatz' - a broader approach - that goes beyond merely searching for heirs, indicating a political desire to open the door to the use of these funds.
Currently, the state already has access to some of these assets in specific cases. If the account holder dies and no relatives or heirs are found, the inheritance rights of the treasury are activated, and the funds are transferred to the federal state where the deceased was last registered.
However, if no one claims the money for 30 years, the bank has the right to keep the amount. This means that the state, even if theoretically able to inherit, must act actively and in a timely manner. Whether this system can be amended through new legislation largely depends on how compatible it is with deutsches Eigentumsrecht – German property law. So far, the transfer of funds from 'nachrichtenlose Konten' to a social fund remains a controversial political project, without actual implementation or a final legal framework.