Agenda - Day one - Monday 1 October

Toby Eccles - Secretary, Commission on Unclaimed Assets
Toby has been with the Commission on Unclaimed Assets since October 2005. The commission has been looking at how dormant funds can best be put to the public good and consumers best protected. Their key recommendations are to build a Social Investment Bank to grow social investment in the UK, and the UK Lost and Found, a one stop shop for consumers to be reconnected with lost accounts.

He moved into the social arena four years ago, becoming Director of Research at ARK, a child focused foundation, where he developed programmes around education in the UK and communities with high levels of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. In the commercial world Toby developed a next generation internet protocols business for Data Connection, a software company, prior to which he was an Associate Director in corporate finance at UBS Warburg.

He has taken non-executive and investor roles in two technology related start-ups, is a non-executive director of Antidote, a charity developing emotional intelligence in schools, and a regional board member of the
Guinness Trust. He holds a BA in Maths from Oxford University.

The Consumer perspective
Any change to the treatment of dormant account scheme will inevitably generate concerns for the consumer. This session will identify those concerns and focus attention on ways financial institutions can take steps to ensure consumer confidence and protection. Paramount to creating a workable and acceptable scheme, attention must be focused on ease of reclaiming transferred funds and reuniting ownership prior to distribution.