Mumbai/New Delhi, September 5: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday called on global leaders to promote cooperation to build a responsible financial system. She asked banks and financial institutions to ensure that their customers nominate their heirs, which would help in reducing the amount of unclaimed money.
Sitharaman said this while addressing the inaugural session of the fourth edition of Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2023 here. Addressing a session on ‘Global Cooperation for a Responsible Financial Ecosystem: Inclusive, Resilient, and Sustainable’, she said that whether it is a strategic issue, an economic issue, or anything else, there is a need for global cooperation to deal with it all. The Finance Minister urged fintech companies to invest in cyber security and said that trust is extremely important.
The Finance Minister asked banks and financial institutions to ensure that their customers nominate their successors, which will help reduce the amount of unclaimed money. She said that the number of demat accounts in the country increased from 4.1 crore in the financial year 2019–20 to 10 crore in the financial year 2022–23. Along with this, a record number of mutual funds and SIPs have also been registered.
In fact, according to a report, there is more than Rs 35 thousand crore of unclaimed money in the banking system alone, whereas the total amount is said to be more than Rs 1 lakh crore.
