Name-based search: Key to unlocking unclaimed assets

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom of hardworking but forgetful people.

- HARSH ROONGTA

They saved diligently and, by custom, entrusted their wealth to jewellers in the form of gold jewellery. Some inscribed their full names on the items. Others marked only their initials.

Most returned to reclaim their jewellery. But a sizeable number moved away, forgot, or passed away without informing their heirs. Over time, the price of gold soared. What were once modest deposits became items of considerable value. Some jewellers began treating the unclaimed jewellery as their own.

Alarmed, the King ordered all such items transferred to the royal treasury, along with a list describing each piece and its markings. The stated intent: Return them to rightful owners or heirs—provided they could identify the item and prove ownership.

But therein lay the problem. Most people did not know what had been deposited, or by whom. Heirs had no idea what their parents or grandparents had left behind. Citizens demanded that the lists be published so they could search and investigate. Treasury officials resisted. Publishing the list, they feared, could lead to fraud—false claims by those who knew just enough to be dangerous.