Cayman residents may have millions in unclaimed assets

(CNS Business): Millions of dollars in unclaimed property belonging to people residing in the Cayman Islands is currently being held by hundreds of federal, state, provincial or municipal governments in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, according to KRyS Global, a Cayman Islands based boutique fraud investigation and asset recovery firm.

‘Unclaimed Property’, the term given to financial assets that have not been collected by their owners after a legally defined period of time, could be in the form of dormant bank accounts, tax refunds, uncashed cheques, insurance or pension policies, stocks or brokerage accounts, inheritances and gift cards.

KRyS Global, which has partnered with AssetMine Global Inc. (also a Cayman registered entity), to start the process of reuniting local residents and companies to their unclaimed property located outside of the Cayman Islands in jurisdictions around the world.

Many residents will have already received correspondence regarding assets that have been identified as belonging to them, and they are encouraged to respond to begin the claims process, the firm said in a release.

“We have begun our first phase of contacting those who we believe to be owners of unclaimed assets that have been identified by AssetMine. Our team uses a multi-stage research process into publicly available databases across the world, which include cross-references at every step to eliminate non-owners. We are contacting only those whom we consider highly likely to be the rightful or legal asset owner,” said Margot MacInnis, Managing Director of KRyS Global’s Cayman office.

The total value of unclaimed assets belonging to Cayman’s residents is currently unknown, but AssetMine’s expert team believe the numbers are constantly growing.

“The known value of unclaimed assets for Cayman residents and companies is in the millions, so we can only imagine what the ‘not stated’ values are,” stated Darren Jack of AssetMine, and Chairman of a task force for the Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization. “Our experience in other countries indicates that these values could be significant.”

Amounts that have not been disclosed remain hidden until the legal owner has initiated a claim due to the regulations of the state or country that it is being held in. These amounts can only be confirmed when the claims process has begun.

“We are excited about this initiative and the value it can bring to residents, companies and the government of the Cayman Islands”, said MacInnis, “We are assisting clients in locating assets that in some cases they never knew existed.”

The firm said that assets can be missing for a number of reasons, such as a change of address or lost mail, incorrect spelling of contact information being recorded, wills not being left or beneficiary details not being up to date, or cheques not being deposited into the owner’s account.

Tags: KRyS Global

Category: Finance, Financial Services