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Publicly listed companies

The Dormant Assets Act 2022 (the Act) expands the scope of the Dormant Assets Scheme to include individual shareholder assets in a public company whose shares are traded in the UK regulated market.

The Scheme enables participating organisations (‘participants’) to transfer monies from eligible dormant assets that cannot be reunited with their owners to RFL. RFL protects the right of asset holders to reclaim the value of their assets at any time in the future. RFL invests funds it receives from participants to cover future reclaims and transfers the surplus to The National Lottery Community Fund which distributes these amounts to good causes across the UK.

Why join?

Companies in all industries are increasingly placing environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities at the heart of their strategies. Participating in the Dormant Assets Scheme benefits participants, their customers and the wider communities in which they operate:

  • Participants harness the value of shares that cannot be reunited with their owners for social and community causes
  • Customers retain the right to reclaim the value of their shareholding at any point in the future
  • Communities benefits from additional funding to support vulnerable individuals and disadvantaged groups

Contact us at dormantassets@reclaimfund.co.uk to discuss how your organisation could participate in the Dormant Assets Scheme.

Assets in scope

Eligible assets in the securities sector include unclaimed proceeds from corporate actions and proceeds of, or distributions from dormant shares registered in the name of an individual. The eligible amounts are the converted cash proceeds where, following attempts to trace and reunify the asset with its owner, there has been no contact with the owner for at least 12 years.

How the Scheme works:

If you think that you have a lost/unclaimed shareholding, you should contact the original provider or share registrar. Alternatively, there are tracing services available who can help (see Useful links on this page).