In Pakistan, the word lifafa evokes images of crisp envelopes slipped discreetly at weddings, Eid gatherings, or official desks—symbols of generosity, celebration, or quiet influence. Yet millions of these lifafas, in a far less romantic sense, lie dormant in the country’s financial system. Bearer instruments, unclaimed bank accounts, forgotten prize bonds, undelivered insurance maturity proceeds, un-cashed dividends, and abandoned pension funds collectively form what is known as “unclaimed deposits” or, colloquially, the “unclaimed lifafa.” According to the State Bank of Pakistan’s latest published data, as of June 2025, over Rs 78 billion lies unclaimed in commercial banks alone—an amount larger than the annual development budget of many provinces. When prize bonds (Rs 410 billion outstanding), defense savings certificates, post office savings, and insurance/pension funds are added, independent estimates place Pakistan’s total forgotten wealth at well over Rs 1.2 trillion. That is roughly 1.5% of the country’s GDP gathering dust while millions struggle with inflation and poverty.
This is not loose change. For thousands of families, these unclaimed amounts represent life savings of deceased parents, overseas remittances never collected, or prize-bond winnings never encashed because the holder passed away without informing heirs. In a country where formal financial literacy remains low and record-keeping patchy, billions remain trapped in a bureaucratic twilight zone.
The Scale of the Sleeping Giant
The State Bank of Pakistan publishes half-yearly data on unclaimed deposits under Section 31 of the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962. Any deposit (current, savings, fixed, or foreign currency) that shows no customer-induced transaction for ten years is classified as “inoperative” and transferred to a separate ledger. After public notices, if still unclaimed, the amount is surrendered to the SBP, where it earns no profit for the bank but continues to belong to the depositor or legal heirs forever.
As of 30 June 2025:
- Total unclaimed deposits: Rs 78.4 billion
- Number of accounts: 4.92 million
- Average unclaimed amount per account: Rs 15,930
- Largest single unclaimed amount: Rs 1.27 billion (a corporate fixed deposit)
Prize bonds present an even larger pool. The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) reports that approximately 38–40% of all prize-bond prizes go unclaimed every year, largely because buyers lose the physical bonds or die without telling family members which bonds they held. With Rs 410 billion in prize bonds in circulation and average annual prizes exceeding Rs 15 billion, roughly Rs 6 billion in prizes vanish into limbo annually.
Add to this:
- Undistributed profits and dividends of defunct or listed companies held by the SECP’s Investor Education Fund
- Unpaid insurance claims and maturity amounts (estimated Rs 90–110 billion by industry sources)
- Abandoned EPFO/EOBI pension balances of workers who migrated or passed away
- Unclaimed refunds from utility companies and tax authorities
The total “unclaimed lifafa” easily crosses the trillion-rupee mark.
Why Does Money Remain Unclaimed?
Several uniquely Pakistani factors contribute to this phenomenon:
- Weak Succession Practices In the absence of nominations and wills, banks struggle to identify legal heirs after an account holder’s death. Joint family structures and oral traditions mean many people never update nominations.
- Physical Bearer Instruments Prize bonds, defense savings certificates, and special savings certificates are still issued in bearer form. If lost or destroyed in floods, fires, or house moves, the wealth effectively disappears unless the owner had recorded serial numbers.
- Overseas Pakistanis Remittances sent to dormant accounts, fixed deposits opened before migration, and prize bonds bought during visits home often fall off the radar.
- Low Financial Literacy Many rural and lower-middle-class account holders are unaware that banks stop sending statements for dormant accounts, assuming “no news is good news.”
- Fear of Scrutiny Some depositors deliberately abandon accounts containing unexplained cash to avoid questions from tax authorities.
- Bank Inertia Until recently, banks had little incentive to trace customers because unclaimed deposits were a source of cost-free funds.
The Turning Tide: Policy Reforms
The last five years have seen unprecedented regulatory push to reunite people with their forgotten money.
In 2021, the State Bank amended the law: banks must now attempt to contact dormant-account customers through SMS, email, and registered post at years 3, 6, and 9 of inactivity. Failure to do so attracts penalties.
The SBP launched the “Unclaimed Deposits Portal” in 2022, allowing anyone to search by CNIC or NTN. Within 18 months, Rs 7.8 billion was claimed by 480,000 individuals.
The Finance Act 2023 introduced Section 236Z, imposing a 15% withholding tax on prize-bond prizes above Rs 50,000 unless the winner provides CNIC and bank account details. This forced digital registration and dramatically reduced unclaimed prizes.
The CDNS rolled out the “National Savings Digital App” and biometric verification at post offices, enabling heirs to claim inherited prize bonds without endless court orders.
Insurance companies were directed by the SECP to upload maturity and death-claim data to a central portal, and life insurers now proactively trace nominees using NADRA’s database.
Perhaps most revolutionary is NADRA’s “ Succession Module” launched in 2024, which allows citizens to register digital wills and financial asset details linked to their CNIC. Upon death, banks and national savings centres receive automatic alerts.
Real Stories Behind the Numbers
In March 2025, a schoolteacher in Chakwal discovered through the SBP portal that her late father had left Rs 4.1 million in a forgotten fixed deposit from 1998. The money paid for her brother’s cancer treatment.
A Dubai-based driver found Rs 3.2 million in prize-bond winnings his deceased uncle had won in 2011 but never claimed because the bonds were stolen. Biometric verification and succession certificate obtained online allowed transfer within 45 days.
In interior Sindh, a landlord family reclaimed Rs 87 million lying in 127 different bank accounts opened by their grandfather in the 1970s. The money had grown with profit but remained untouched because no one knew all the branch names.
How to Claim Your Forgotten Lifafa
The process has become remarkably simple:
- Visit https://www.sbp.org.pk/unclaimed-deposits or the bank’s own portal and search by CNIC.
- For prize bonds, use https://savings.gov.pk/unclaimed-prizes or visit any National Savings Centre with CNIC.
- If the original depositor is deceased, obtain a succession certificate or NADRA’s new “Letter of Administration” (costs Rs 5,000–15,000 and takes 30–60 days).
- Submit claim form, CNIC copies, and succession documents. Most banks now process claims within 15–30 days.
No amount is too small to claim, and there is no deadline—the money belongs to you or your heirs forever.
The Bigger Picture
Pakistan’s unclaimed lifafa is more than an administrative curiosity; it is a symptom of financial exclusion and a treasure trove waiting to be democratised. Every rupee returned to circulation boosts consumption, reduces poverty, and lessens dependence on loans. The Rs 15–20 billion reclaimed annually in the last three years has already outstripped many government cash-transfer schemes in impact.
Yet much work remains. Rural women, who rarely hold accounts in their own names, are disproportionately excluded from succession. Digital literacy campaigns and one-window facilitation centres at tehsil level could unlock another hundred billion rupees.
In a country forever chasing dollars, the easiest forex is the one already printed and lying in our own vaults. The unclaimed lifafa is not lost wealth—it is sleeping wealth. And Pakistan is finally learning how to wake it up.
