The Act of 9 October 2015 on the Amendment to the Banking Law Act and Certain Other Acts (the “Amendment”) came into force on 1 July 2016.

The aim of the Amendment is to regulate the issues relating to the so-called dormant accounts by introducing appropriate information procedures in the event of the account holder’s death or a lengthy absence of instructions in the bank account.  The Amendment is designed to resolve this problem by, among others, regulating the issue of access of the institution carrying the account to information about the account holder’s death, defining the term “instructions”  in the event of death, and by releasing banks from banking secrecy and SKOKs from professional secrecy with regard to information given to the heirs concerning the deceased’s accounts. 

The Amendment applies to bank account agreements of natural persons not concluded in connection with business activity. According to the new regulations, the bank account agreement is automatically dissolved upon the account holder’s death or after the lapse of 10 years of the last instruction given by the account holder.  However, the new regulations do not apply to all types of bank accounts.  Savings account or term deposit agreements concluded for a period in excess of 10 years are excluded. 

According to the authors of the Amendment, the biggest obstacle faced until now by persons with a legal title to the inheritance wishing to exercise their right to funds in the testator’s account has been the inability to obtain information indicating which bank or SKOK carries the deceased’s account.  On the one hand, there existed no separate competent institution dealing with such cases.  On the other hand, banks and SKOKs cited banking or professional secrecy, thus preventing the heirs from obtaining information on the funds due to them.

In order to resolve this problem the Amendment has obligated banks and SKOKs to provide information about the banks accounts of the holder to the holder of the account being a natural person and to a person who has obtained a legal title to the inheritance.  Moreover, in the event of the bank receiving information about the death of the account holder who issued instructions regarding the disposal of funds in the event of death, the bank will be obligated to notify the persons designated by the account holder of the possibility of withdrawing a specified amount. While concluding an account agreement, the bank will be also obligated to clearly inform the account holder of the possibility of issuing instructions to dispose of the deposit in the event of death.  

The Amendment also provides for the creation of a Central Information Desk, providing a mechanism shared by banks and SKOK’s for generating aggregate information about accounts, thus allowing the heirs to obtain information about the testator’s funds at any bank or SKOK.