Residents urged to reclaim assets in custody of the Unclaimed Assets Authority

The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) began its three-day citizen mobile outreach program on June, 26, 2023 at the Nyayo Gardens.

In the program ending today, the authority seeks to enlighten Nakuru residents on how to reclaim assets currently in their custody.

Unclaimed assets are assets that haven’t been claimed over a period of time, usually over five years, and are in turn remitted by various institutions to UFAA for safeguarding.

Currently, UFAA is safeguarding assets worth 57 billion, of which 27 billion is in cash form and the rest is in form of shares.

Some of the different types of unclaimed assets include money in dormant bank accounts, unclaimed deposits/ benefits from collapsed institutions, unclaimed retirement benefits and unclaimed death benefits from insurers and uncollected prize money e.g. lottery.

So how can you go about reclaiming unclaimed assets?

The first option is to know where the type of asset you want to claim falls. There are four broad types of claims you can lodge.

These categories are assets to be claimed when someone is deceased, original owner claim, business owner claim and agent for owner claim (which is when someone does the claim on your behalf.)

Once you understand where your unclaimed assets fall, the next step is to claim them. One option of doing this is through visiting Nyayo Gardens.

Be sure to carry with you a copy of your national ID. In the case you are making business claims, ensure you carry the business registration certificate.

While speaking to Kennedy Ouma, an officer at UFAA, he notes that the most common lodged cases of unclaimed assets are the deceased claims.

“When making a deceased asset claim, the first step is to go through the succession process through the High Court, a public trustee or the deputy county commissioner,” Ouma shares before adding that these claims need to be accompanied by your national ID and an original and copy of the death certificate.

Once the claim goes through, you’ll be presented with a grant, which is basically a letter from the court which you then present to UFAA.

Asset claims can be made through an email via a portal or they can be physically presented.

In the event of a claim made by a business or claims made when you are alive, Kennedy shares that these claims are paid between two weeks to a month.

While for deceased claims, it’s all dependent on how soon verification of documents happens.

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