Dormant Account Rules Now Cover Insurers and Exchange Houses: What That Means for You
The Central Bank of the UAE has replaced its dormant accounts rules with a broader framework that reaches past banks. The Dormant Accounts and Unclaimed Funds Regulation (C 9/2025), issued on 31 December 2025 and published on the CBUAE Rulebook, applies to all licensed financial institutions. That includes banks, finance companies, exchange businesses and insurance companies. It repeals the earlier Dormant Accounts Regulation (Circular No. 1/2020), which covered banks only.
The core timelines most residents already know haven't moved. A current, call or savings account with no customer-initiated transactions and no communication for three years can still be classified as dormant. What's new is who has to apply the rules, and how many types of money now sit inside them.
What the wider scope changes
A dormant customer is defined at customer level: an individual or entity holding accounts, balances or an insurance policy with a licensed institution, where the accounts are individually eligible for dormancy, the current address isn't known, and there's no litigation or requirement from another regulator attached. Activity on any other account with the same institution counts as evidence the customer is still active.
Different sectors get their own tests. For exchange businesses, funds made available but not collected for a year, where the customer can't be located, count as unclaimed. In insurance, dormancy is also assessed at customer level, with no other active policies held with the same insurer: if a policy ends and the amounts payable to the customer or heirs stay unclaimed for three years, they're treated as unclaimed. Bankers cheques, bank drafts and cashier orders unclaimed for a year despite contact attempts fall in too, as do safe deposit boxes where charges have been outstanding for more than three years with no reply from the tenant. Unclaimed dividends are handled differently — the market regulator's guidelines govern how those are maintained and reclaimed.
Institutions have to attempt contact through written, electronic or recorded channels, notify issuers of uncollected instruments, and send a final notice to the last known address for safe deposit boxes. Then they wait three months. If nobody responds, the money moves into an internal ledger for dormant accounts and unclaimed funds at the institution itself — not straight to the regulator.
Transfer to the Central Bank comes later. Accounts dormant for five years from the last transaction go to the Unclaimed Balances Account at the regulator, provided the customer has no other active account there and the address is unknown, and the same five-year mark applies to unclaimed cheques and drafts from date of issue. Exchange businesses transfer funds unclaimed for three years, quarterly. Insurance companies transfer at five years. Reporting to the Central Bank runs quarterly across all of them.
Who this affects in practice
The people most exposed aren't necessarily large account holders. They're residents who left the UAE and forgot a salary account, a remittance never collected at a branch, a fixed deposit that quietly matured, or a maturity payout nobody followed up on. Long-standing residents who changed phone numbers, employers or addresses without telling their providers are easy candidates too, because an unknown current address is part of the definition.
Ownership isn't the issue. The money in a dormant account or unclaimed balance stays the property of the customer, or their legal heirs if the customer has died. No fee or charge should be levied for reactivating an account, closing it, or making a claim. Customers or heirs can claim by approaching the institution directly, or through a legal representative, with documentation proving identity and entitlement. Institutions are meant to settle claims within a month, and exchange businesses within fourteen days, unless there's a valid reason for delay.
One detail is worth knowing before you leave money sitting. Interest keeps accruing on an interest-bearing account under the existing contract terms right up until the balance goes to the Central Bank. After that, it stops, and the regulator states it isn't liable for interest, returns or profits on transferred funds. You can get the money back. You don't get back what it would have earned.
What to verify rather than assume
The full text sits on the CBUAE Rulebook, and it's worth reading the specific article that applies to your situation rather than working from a summary — the timelines differ by product and by type of institution. Individual banks, insurers and exchange houses also publish their own dormancy notices and procedures.
If you suspect you're holding forgotten funds, go to the institution concerned. Not to a third party offering to trace money for a fee. Unclaimed-funds searches are a familiar setting for impersonation scams, and nobody needs a middleman to file a claim that's free to make.
For most readers the useful response is basic record hygiene. Know what accounts, policies and pending transfers exist in your name. Keep contact details current with every provider, including the ones you never hear from. An account you never touch still needs a periodic check.
Key Takeaways
The framework now covers all licensed financial institutions — banks, finance companies, exchange businesses and insurers — each with its own dormancy tests, replacing the 2020 bank-only regulation.
After a three-month response window, funds move to an internal ledger at the institution. Transfer to the Central Bank comes later: five years for most accounts, three for exchange businesses.
Funds remain the property of the customer or legal heirs, claims are free to make, but interest stops once a balance reaches the Central Bank.
An unknown current address is part of the dormancy definition, so keeping contact details updated with every provider is the practical safeguard.
Sources: Central Bank of the UAE, Emirates 24|7.
Disclaimer: This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, investment, cybersecurity, medical, business, career, or other professional advice. Verify important information with official sources or qualified professionals before acting.
