Unclaimed assets have crossed the Sh100 billion mark for the first time, swelling the coffers of a Treasury unit amid struggles to find their owners.
Data shows the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (Ufaa) sat on Sh115 billion in December from idle cash at banks, shares, M-Pesa wallets and dividends and is struggling to reunite the growing haul to its legitimate owners.
The unclaimed assets stood at Sh75.5 billion in December 2024, reflecting the difficulty in reuniting the wealth as investors, including tycoons, show disinterest in reclaiming the assets.
The money is largely held by insurance companies, banks, pension schemes, legal firms, mobile phone money wallets and saccos, among others.
So far, the authority has reunited less than 10 percent of the billions worth of shares and cash worth with beneficiaries.
Kenyans remain disinterested in pursuing funds legally belonging to them despite the soft economy while in some instances inheritance fights have derailed attempts to unite the assets with the beneficiaries.
Billionaire businessmen, former powerful government officials and prominent politicians are in the long list of individuals with cash and shares worth tens of billions of shillings that have been surrendered to the Treasury.
Unclaimed assets include money in bank accounts which have been dormant for more than five years, bankers cheques not cashed and contents in safe deposit boxes unclaimed for more than two years.
Deposits in mobile wallets are deemed idle if held in phone lines that have been inactive for more than two years. Ufaa data shows the value of cash in unclaimed assets surged from Sh25.4 billion in June 2024 to Sh33.8 billion in June 2025, largely from an increase in idle money in banks and uncollected dividends as well as uncollected insurance policies.
Idle cash in banks rose to Sh24.5 billion from Sh19.9 billion a year earlier as unclaimed balances in mobile money wallets fell slightly to Sh1.38 billion from Sh1.56 billion previously.
Unclaimed dividends and insurance covers stood at Sh4.3 billion and Sh3 billion respectively.
During the year to June 30, Ufaa recorded a rise in surrenders by holders of unclaimed financial assets, including telecommunications companies and saccos who handed in Sh4.7 billion in cash, 81.3 million share units and 67 safe deposit boxes.
“On the compliance front, we collected Sh4.7 billion in cash, representing 112.5 percent achievement of target,” said Laban Molonko, the Ufaa chief executive officer.
“The target was attributable to holders’ sensitisation and enforcement initiatives.
“Sector-specific forums were held in Nairobi, Bomet, Kisii, Narok, Machakos, Embu, Kakamega and Meru counties.”
Reunification trailed fresh surrenders in the period, underlining the disinterest by many Kenyans in pursuing funds legally belonging to them and their families.
Only Sh427.4 million was reunited with 5,014 claimants in the period, which is 1.26 percent of the total Sh33.8 billion idle cash haul.
A further 796 claimants received 7.35 million unclaimed shares while 21 and four claimants were reunited with unclaimed safe deposit boxes and unclaimed unit trust units respectively.
Ufaa said it relied on ‘reunification’ clinics during the cycle to bridge the gap.
The agency has come under pressure to reunite the assets with its legitimate owners amid revelations from a previous audit that a higher share of the unclaimed wealth represented sums of less than Sh1,000.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu said that holders of small amounts were forced to incur high costs, such as travel expenses and certification fees when claiming money from the agency.
This has resulted in most Kenyans opting to forgo their money.
Telecoms operators alongside other institutions such as banks, insurance firms are required to surrender all unclaimed assets to Ufaa by the first of November each year or risk penalties for non-compliance.
The law requires such companies to look for the bona fide owners of the assets or rightful successors in cases where the previous holders are dead.
But for companies like Safaricom the sheer number of accounts and assets they are dealing with has made it difficult and costly to launch the search for the assets owners through conventional means such as publication of the names in local newspapers or websites.
The unclaimed M-Pesa deposits, for instance, accumulated in small amounts spread in millions of accounts with the telecoms firm
Previously, Safaricom said dependants of deceased persons can still claim the funds if they provide proof of death and an administration letter granting them powers over the deceaseds’ estates.
Many Kenyans, said the authority, remain disinterested in pursuing funds legally belonging to them or their families, leaving the State to profit from the cash.
The law directs Ufaa to invest half the unclaimed cash in Treasury bonds, 45 percent in Treasury bills and retain five percent as cash.
The idle assets earned Sh13.1 billion return in five years from buying government paper using cash that investors have failed to claim in bank accounts, dividends and mobile wallets like M-Pesa.
Ufaa says it invested unclaimed cash worth Sh22.3 billion in buying Treasury bonds and bills between 2019 and 2024.
This earned it a cumulative return of 58.7 percent or Sh13.1 billion, with cash being kept in a bank because there is no policy to guide the use of the earnings.
Some of the unclaimed assets are linked to the deceased having kept their wealth secret and the absence of Wills.
The law allows Ufaa to charge an entity that fails to surrender unclaimed assets a penalty of 25 percent of the assets held. In addition, the authority can levy penalties between Sh7,000 and Sh50,000 for each day that the assets are held.
