The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Some 4,500 Bahamian companies and individuals may collectively own “around $28 million” in unclaimed foreign assets, a local recovery specialist yesterday suggesting these figures were only likely to increase.

Edmund Rahming, managing director for KRyS Global’s Bahamas office, said both the Government and private sector were starting to overcome their initial scepticism about the firm’s new ‘unclaimed overseas assets’ tracing service.

Mr Rahming said its eight-month partnership with AssetMine Global had created an ever-expanding database of Bahamians, companies and government entities that likely owned unclaimed assets in foreign jurisdictions.

“Our initial assessments say there are about 4,500 entities and Bahamian persons that have assets tied up overseas,” Mr Rahming told Tribune Business.

“These amounts can range from very small amounts, say $50, to $250,000. Based on the database we currently maintain, there are 4,500 persons and entities that have unclaimed assets outside the Bahamas.”

Mr Rahming said these assets could range from insurance payouts that were never claimed or collected; dormant bank or brokerage accounts where the financial institution has lost the Bahamian’s correct address or contact details; and student cheques that may not have been collected, mailed or cashed.

Tax refunds, gift cards and inheritances are typical examples of other unclaimed foreign assets, and Mr Rahming said Bahamians needed to fast to reclaim what was rightfully theirs before it became the property of foreign governments.

“Governments are being a bit more aggressive because their economies are not performing as well as they have in the past,” he explained. “So they’re being more aggressive in dealing with unclaimed assets.”

With many nations joining the Bahamas in the ‘fiscal crisis club’, Mr Rahming said the desperation for revenue meant countries were now altering laws to allow them to seize dormant assets within four to five years, rather than previous period of 10-20 years.

Yet, at the same time, the KRyS Global (Bahamas) chief said some nations were being “a bit more open” when it came to providing information and reconnecting assets to their rightful owners.

Emphasising that the initial database constructed with AssetMine was “in no way exhaustive”, Mr Rahming told Tribune Business: “It’s a rough estimate, and could be more, but our initial data shows there are around $28 million” in unclaimed foreign assets belonging to Bahamians.

“We’re looking at jurisdictions where they don’t state an asset or value of the asset,” he added. “They simply provide the name and address, type of asset and whatever else they possess, but don’t state the value. We have plenty of data where the value is not stated.”

Mr Rahming said KRyS Global and AssetMine had already met with John Rolle, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, and his deputy, Simon Wilson, over their asset recovery service.

He added that several government entities had “significant unclaimed assets in the US and Canada”, based on their research.

As for the private sector, the partners have already met with insurance companies and brokers.

“People are a bit surprised and a bit sceptical, but when we provide them with the information and they see how easy and transparent the process is, and how common this is in the US in terms of businesses that provide the services, they see no risk in trying to connect assets to their rightful owners,” Mr Rahming told Tribune Business.

“Initially it’s been slow, but it’s picking up. People have been coming back to us.”

Mr Rahming said the partnership started when AssetMine’s Darren Jack, a former colleague of his at Deloitte & Touche (Cayman), approached him about launching an ‘unclaimed overseas asset’ service in all the territories KRyS Global operated in.

Given that KRyS already specialises in fraud investigations and asset recovery, Mr Rahming said the service was a natural extension to its existing service offering. The alliance and relationship developed from there.

AssetMine, in its explanation of the service, said unclaimed property laws had been passed in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and some Caribbean countries.

“Millions of dollars belonging to businesses and residents/citizens in the Bahamas have legally been escheated and transferred to governments around the world after having been forgotten, lost, abandoned or unclaimed. The good news is that it is not too late to locate and recover this unclaimed property,” AssetMine said.

“It has been estimated that governments around the world are legally holding between $50 billion and $100 billion in escheated unclaimed financial assets, awaiting claims by the rightful owners.

“In jurisdictions without unclaimed property legislation in place, the total value of dormant financial assets still under the control of holders, and not yet escheated, is estimated to be a further $20 billion and $30 billion. These amounts grow by about 15 per cent to 20 per cent annually because new dormant funds are continually being added, outpacing the recovery of existing unclaimed money.”