Opinion of the European Central Bank of 19 March 2013 on dormant deposit accounts with credit institutions (CON/2013/20)
Date: 2013-03-19
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Greece, bank deposit, banking supervision, credit institution, national law

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 19 March 2013 

on dormant deposit accounts with credit institutions 

(CON/2013/20) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 26 February 2013, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Greek Ministry of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  set  of  draft  legislative  provisions  regarding  the  management  of  dormant 

deposit accounts by credit institutions in Greece (hereinafter the ‘draft provisions’). The draft provisions 

are part  of  a  draft  law  on arrangements  amending  and  improving  pension-related,  fiscal, administrative 

and other provisions of the Ministry of Finance. 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 

Functioning of the European Union and the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 

29  June  1998  on  the  consultation  of  the  European  Central  Bank  by  national  authorities  regarding  draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft provisions concern the Bank of Greece. In accordance with the first 

sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council 

has adopted this opinion. 

1.  

Purpose of the draft provisions 

1.1  According  to  the  draft  provisions,  their  main  purpose  is  to  allow  money  in  dormant  deposit 
accounts to transfer to the State once the rights of the depositors or their legal heirs have lapsed2. 
To this end, the draft provisions reform the current legal framework governing such accounts3. In 

particular, they establish an automated procedure requiring credit institutions operating in Greece 

to take specific action to deal with dormant deposit accounts held with them, including monitoring 

compliance  with  and  implementation  of  the  draft  provisions.  Furthermore,  the  draft  provisions 

confer on the Bank of Greece specific supervisory tasks to ensure the adequate implementation of 

the scheme. 

1.2  More  specifically,  for  the  purposes  of  the  draft  provisions,  ‘dormant  deposit  account’  means  an 

account on which no transaction by depositors has been recorded for a period of 20 years from the 

1  
2  
3  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
Article 6 of the draft provisions. 
See Legislative Decree 1195/1942 (FEK A 70). 

 
 
 
 
                                                           
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day  following  the  last  transaction4.  The  draft  provisions  require  a  credit  institution  to  notify  the 
beneficiary of a potentially dormant account several times5 before the expiry of the 20-year period 

that the balance on the dormant deposit account will be statute barred for the benefit of the Greek 

State twenty years from the day following the last transaction. 

1.3  Following  the  expiry  of  the  20-year  period,  the  credit  institution  concerned  must  transfer  to  the 

State the aggregate balance on any time-barred dormant deposit accounts, including any interest, by 

the  end  of  April  of  each  year  and  the  credit  institution  must  also  notify  the  General  Accounting 

Office (GAO) and the concerned beneficiaries or heirs of the transfer, as provided for in the draft 
provisions6. 

1.4  The  draft  provisions  confer  on  the  Bank  of  Greece  supervision  of  proper  compliance  by  credit 

institutions  with  their  obligations  and  impose  the  necessary  sanctions  for  breaches.  In  addition, 

within the first two months of every year the Bank of Greece is required to submit to the GAO a list 

of all credit institutions operating in Greece. Finally, the Minister for Finance may ask the Bank of 

Greece to carry out ad hoc inspections, whenever necessary, to confirm correct application of the 
draft provisions7. 

2.   General observations 

2.1  According  to  the  explanatory  memorandum,  the  draft  provisions  are  expected  to  clarify  that  the 

money on dormant deposit accounts after the 20-year lapse of the rights of beneficiaries and their 

heirs  may  be  used  to  fund  State  protection  of  vulnerable  social  groups.  In  this  respect,  the  ECB 

broadly welcomes the draft provisions and notes the importance of ensuring that a fair balance is 

struck between general interest considerations underlying the statute-barring and the protection of 
beneficiaries’ property rights, as enshrined in national and international legislation8. Furthermore, 

the ECB notes that, in the explanatory memorandum, the Greek legislator has taken into account 

the relevant national legislation and well established case law on statute-barring, as well as relevant 

arrangements  in  other  Member  States,  noting  however  that  currently  there  is  no  harmonised 

European Union legislation dealing especially with time barring for dormant deposit accounts. In 

this context, the ECB notes that it is essential to ensure equal treatment of depositors, regardless of 

whether they are resident in Greece or abroad. 

2.2  Moreover,  the  ECB  notes  that  the  Bank  of  Greece  is  assigned  supervisory  tasks  related  to  the 

application  of  the  draft  provisions,  as  set  out  in  paragraph  1.4  above.  The  ECB  has  consistently 

expressed  its  concern  that,  when  allocating  additional  tasks  to  national  central  banks,  it  must  be 

4  
5  

6  
7  
8  

Article 7 of the draft provisions. 
For deposited amounts in excess of EUR 100 notification by letter with acknowledgement of receipt takes place at least 
twice. See Article 8(1) of the draft provisions. According to the explanatory memorandum, the notification requirements 
seem to reflect Judgment No 66610/09 of the European Court of Human Rights.   
Article 8(3) of the draft provisions. 
Article 9 of the draft provisions. 
See in particular European Convention on Human Rights.  

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ensured  that  they  have  sufficient  human  and  financial  resources,  both  in  terms  of  quantity  and 

quality, for all of their tasks, and in particular that their capacity to fulfil their European System of 
Central Banks or Eurosystem-related tasks is not affected9. 

2.3  Finally, in particular as regards the power of the Minister of Finance to ask the Bank of Greece to 

carry out ad hoc inspections in accordance with Article 9(5) of the draft provisions, the ECB notes 

that this is not in line with the prohibition on the Bank of Greece from taking instructions from the 
Government10. If the intention of the Greek legislator is to hold the Bank of Greece accountable for 

its  new  tasks,  it  should  set  up  an  appropriate  accountability  framework,  such  as  additional 

reporting.  

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 19 March 2013. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

9   

10  

See the ECB’s Convergence Report 2012, p. 25. See also Opinion CON/2011/105. All ECB opinions are published on 
the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
See  Article  5A  of  the  Statute  of  the  Bank  of  Greece,  available  on  the  website  of  the  Bank  of  Greece 
(www.bankofgreece.gr). 

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