Find Your Unclaimed Money in Austria

Unclaimed Money in Austria

Austria requires banks to report dormant accounts to the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB — the Austrian central bank) once they have been inactive for 10 years. However, Austria does not have a public-facing central search portal — the reporting is for regulatory purposes. Claims must therefore be made directly to the banks or, for very old accounts, through the court system.

The Austrian Banking Act (Bankwesengesetz) requires banks to publish annual notices of dormant accounts above certain thresholds in the Amtsblatt zur Wiener Zeitung (Austrian official gazette). This can be a useful research tool for estates involving older Austrian accounts.

How to Search for Dormant Accounts in Austria

Austrian Documentation

Austrian citizens are identified by their Sozialversicherungsnummer (social security number) or the kombinierten Register-ZMR-Zahl. For bank account enquiries, full name, date of birth, and last known address are the primary identifiers — Austrian banks are not required to search by national register number alone.

For deceased estates, an Einantwortungsurkunde (court grant of probate) from the Bezirksgericht (district court) is the key document. Austrian probate proceedings are handled by the courts and are required for any formal inheritance claim.