The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) says a fee of Sh400 billion is blocking its plan to move two billion abandoned shares into its custody, a hurdle that is holding up efforts to reunite owners with billions of shillings of idle wealth, Business Daily reported on Thursday, October 29, 2026.
According to the authority, the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC) charges Sh200 to move each share from an investor’s account to one held by UFAA. Applied to two billion shares, that comes to Sh400 billion. UFAA Chief Executive and Managing Trustee Laban Molonko raised the issue in remarks at the Pensions Conference and Expo at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi on October 29.
The shares targeted are those whose owners have not taken part in corporate actions, such as collecting dividends or voting, for at least three years. Under Section 23 of the UFAA Act, the authority must take custody of idle assets, together with the rights of the asset holder. Once shares are classed as unclaimed, their dividends are also treated as abandoned.
UFAA has flagged the risk of unauthorised transfers of the stocks while they sit outside its custody. Disputes over inheritance have also left many beneficiaries without the valid will or letters of administration they need to gain control of the assets.
The authority argues that moving the shares into its custody would ease reunification, avoid duplication of roles and processes, and reduce the reliance on other central depository agents, such as stockbrokers and investment banks, to transfer units to the rightful owners.
The stakes are high. UFAA held unclaimed assets worth Sh115 billion in December, up from Sh75.5 billion a year earlier, when the total first crossed the Sh100 billion mark. In the year to June, holders surrendered Sh4.7 billion in cash, 81.3 million share units and 67 safe deposit boxes.
Previous audits found that nine in 10 unclaimed assets were worth less than Sh1,000, and only about 4 percent had been reunified with owners by August 2024. Claimants are often required to travel to the holder’s office to get an official letter, which adds time and cost.
The law requires holders, including banks, insurers, telecom firms and saccos, to hand over unclaimed assets by November 1 each year, even if they have none, in which case they must file a nil return. Firms that fail face a penalty of 25 percent of the assets plus daily fines of Sh7,000 to Sh50,000.
