The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) has partnered with Huduma centres countrywide, in a move aimed at reconnecting rightful owners with their unclaimed assets worth at least Sh50 billion.
Thika Huduma Centre Manager Susan Wachira has confirmed that they have already set up an UFAA desk, noting that this would be yet another addition to the 23 services currently being offered at the facility.
UFAA CEO and managing Trustee John Mwangi on his part said, “We are capitalizing on Huduma Kenya infrastructure to reach people at the grassroots level and we believe that this is a great opportunity to hasten the reunification process as the centres will act as a point of contact for people enquiring about the status of their lost and found assets.”
Speaking in Thika Stadium during a reintegration campaign drive dubbed, ‘Claim Your Lost & Found Cash Karibu Nawe,’ Mwangi said the organization seeks to encourage members of the public to check the status of any unclaimed financial assets registered in the UFAA database using the short code *361# or by logging on to their official website.
Currently, UFAA is holding unclaimed financial assets totalling to Sh48.8 billion in cash and 1.2 billion units of unclaimed shares. Additionally, the authority has successfully reunited approximately Sh2billion and 39.7 million units of shares with their rightful beneficiaries.
“We hope that by the end of this campaign at least three quarters of these monies will be reunited with its rightful owners. It is crucial that these monies are ploughed back into the economy,” said Mwangi.
The campaign is also aimed at motivating holding institutions in possession of financial assets on behalf of owners such as banks, Saccos, Insurance Companies and others to submit and surrender unclaimed financial assets in their possession.
In this regard, Co-op bank, KCB group, Safaricom and other institutions were also available to assist residents who attended the function in reclaiming what was rightfully theirs.
The nationwide campaign is also an awareness initiative to sensitise people on the Assets Authority, as most people are unaware of its existence.
Under the current UFAA framework, it takes a 90-day period from the time an individual files a claim on an asset to the time a decision is finally delivered by the Authority regarding the same.
The Authority is also seeking to integrate technology to improve the claim settlement process.
Furthermore, they have also implemented the Unclaimed Financial Assets Management Systems (UFAMS) which enables online filing and tracking of claims, as well as automated backend processing.
