ASIC officials said demand for the newly-launched online unclaimed money search servicewas such that the Web site had succumbed to "sporadic non-performance" this morning, including a temporary disabling of the search facility.
The officials said the number of visits to the site had roughly doubled since the service was launched. They said this afternoon that today's traffic was on the verge of setting an all time record for hits in a single day.
The site enables Web users to search for their name amongst a list of 355,000 people who have money in forgotten bank accounts insurance policies and company share sales. The list, previously only available via government gazettes, or privately contracted financial agents, accounts for AU$200 million in forgotten funds - the bulk of which has been left apparently abandoned bank accounts.
According to ASIC's director of consumer communication, Michael Dunn, such information had appeared on the Web previously in PDF format - however, this is the first time the organisation has opened its databases to be searched by the public.
"Once we had built the database for ourselves we tweaked it a bit to make it available for consumers," Dunn said. "Essentially people are able to look into the ASIC database, consistent with our privacy obligations."
While the $13 is the average amount in each forgotten bank account, the largest single amount is $149 000. Details of the accounts have been passed on to ASIC through banks, companies and insurance agencies, and although funds on the list do not attract any interest, they are not subject to fees either.
"Some of the names on the list may well be deceased as the records go back to 1959," Dunn said. "However, people who may have inherited the money are entitled to claim it as long as they provide appropriate evidence of their claim."
