ASIC today urged Australians to check if they have any unclaimed money in forgotten bank accounts. ASIC holds a record $204 million in money from almost 161,000 forgotten bank accounts, waiting to be returned to its rightful owners.‘We have just updated our records for 2006. The largest new unclaimed amount is for $216,000 in a New South Wales bank account, although that’s still less than the record amount of $405,000 claimed by a Victorian woman in July 1995’, ASIC’s executive director of consumer protection, Greg Tanzer said. To search for unclaimed bank money look on ASIC’s consumer website FIDO. Do a free, instant search for unclaimed money in your name. When the money is transferred to the Commonwealth Government, as it often is after seven years, if you find it you can still get it back. If you find an amount belonging to you, all you need to do is apply at your local branch of your bank for its release.‘Almost half the unclaimed money gets back to the rightful owners, but if everyone took a moment to see if they had a forgotten bank account, I’m sure we’d have more successful claims’, Mr Tanzer said.