MTN Uganda recovers Shs42b from dormant mobile money accounts in three years

A total of Shs42.7b was held on 9.35 million dormant mobile money accounts held by MTN Uganda between 2009 and 2022, a new report shows.

According to MTN Mobile Money Managing Director Richard Yego, they transferred the money to Bank of Uganda in accordance with the National Payment Systems Act.

Mr Yego is quoted by Daily Monitor newspaper as saying that in 2022, MTN Uganda had 1.83 million dormant mobile money accounts with Shs7.68b.

He said a mobile money account is declared dormant after 450 days or 15 months of not being in use.

 According to the National Payment systems Act, a telecoms company must inform a subscriber, whose account has been inactive for nine months, of a pending suspension after which the account is blocked and then suspended.

Mr Yego is explained most dormant mobile money accounts were held by deceased persons, whose relatives did not have means of recovering the money.

According to the National Payment Systems Act, such money on dormant accounts can be redeemed by relatives of the deceased.

Mr Yego is quoted as saying that the claimant must have a death certificate and letters of administration that authorise them to administer the deceased’s estate.

“Some people never follow up. But because the process is long, by the time it ends the mobile money account might have fallen in the dormancy bracket. You have to provide evidence of whether there was a family meeting guided by the head of the family and administrator general,” he is quoting by Daily Monitor as saying.