Europe
Unclaimed assets in Switzerland
Estimated unclaimed
CHF 2.7 billion+ (est.)
≈ $3B · CHF
Who holds it
Banks, with a central process
Swiss Bankers Association rules. The Swiss Banking Ombudsman is the central claims office.
Where to search
Two different routes
A public list at 60 years — or an Ombudsman search from year 10, which almost nobody knows about.
Overview
Since 1 January 2015, Swiss law requires banks to report assets with no customer contact for 10 years to a central database. The Swiss Banking Ombudsman alone can search that database on behalf of legitimate claimants. Only after a further 50 years — sixty years in total — are names published publicly at dormantaccounts.ch. If nobody claims within the publication period, the assets go to the Swiss Confederation and the customer's rights become null and void. This is the only system on the site with a hard forfeiture — you do not have to wait sixty years, since the Ombudsman can search the central database from year 10.
How to search
- 1
If you do not know the bank — the Swiss Banking Ombudsman
The Ombudsman acts as the central claims office and is the only party permitted to search the database of assets without contact. This route works from the ten-year stage onwards, long before anything is published.
- Submit a search request to the Swiss Banking Ombudsman with everything you know about the account holder.
- Provide evidence of your relationship or entitlement — the Ombudsman searches for legitimate claimants, not speculatively.
- If a match is found, the Ombudsman puts you in contact with the bank concerned.
Swiss Banking Ombudsman, Bahnhofplatz 9, CH-8021 Zurich.
- 2
If you know the bank — go to it directly
Where you know which institution held the relationship, contact it directly. A bank is obliged to deal with a legitimate claim, and restoring contact ends the dormancy altogether.
- Write to the bank with the account holder's full details and any references you have.
- Provide proof of your identity and of your relationship to the holder.
- If you are an heir, expect to prove the chain of inheritance with certificates.
- 3
If a name has been published — claim through dormantaccounts.ch
Assets dormant for sixty years and worth over CHF 500 appear on the public platform. A claim is made through an online form, which is forwarded electronically to the bank concerned.
- Search the published list for the name and last known place of residence.
- Complete the claim form on the site. It goes automatically to the bank.
- Supply proof substantiating the claim. The bank decides; the Ombudsman can intervene in a dispute.
The clock is short once a name is published: the claim period is one year from publication (five years for older assets already dormant more than 50 years when the rules came in). After it expires, the assets pass to the Federal Finance Administration and rights lapse.
Asset types held
Documents you'll typically need
- Photo ID
- Proof of relationship where you are claiming as an heir — birth, marriage and death certificates tracing the chain
- Any account references or correspondence — old statements, savings books, letters
- A declaration of indemnity in some cases, where a bank is satisfied on balance but the file is incomplete
Common mistakes
- • Waiting for a name to appear on the public list — you can search from the ten-year stage through the Ombudsman
- • Assuming Swiss assets are held forever — they are not; they escheat, and rights lapse
- • Missing the one-year claim window after publication
- • Expecting to search dormantaccounts.ch yourself for a recent account — only sixty-year cases appear there
- • Giving up when a bank first disputes the evidence — the Ombudsman mediates exactly these cases
Success tips
- • Start with the Ombudsman if you do not know the bank — it is the only body that can search centrally
- • Assemble the family tree and certificates before you file anything
- • Include the holder's last known Swiss address; published records are matched partly on residence
- • Check for a savings-book or account number in old family papers
- • Act immediately if a name is already published — the window is a year, not a lifetime
Frequently asked questions
Keep your own assets findable
LifeWyn records what you own and who should inherit it — so your family never has to hunt through Switzerland's registries.