Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

We support the amendment, and our names have been attached to it. Fifteen years is not an unreasonable point at which to start, because as the BBA and the noble Baroness have said, one does not want to get to the point where one is transferring a large amount of money to the reclaim fund and a large proportion of it is coming back. That makes unnecessary work and effort, and almost brings the scheme into disrepute. If starting off at 10 years meant that 50 per cent of the money that went into the reclaim fund was being withdrawn, that would be unsatisfactory. The BBA suggests that 15 years will take us towards the 80:20 split, which seems a sensible target, but, as the noble Baroness said, we cannot be sure, and other countries clearly manage with a significantly shorter period than 15 years. The proposal in the amendment initially to stick with 15 years, see how it works and then change it if we find that we can beneficially do so seems to be a sensible way forward.