Unclaimed dividends
Dividends go unpaid when a shareholder moves, changes name, emigrates or dies without the family knowing what was held. The money does not disappear — somebody is holding it. This is who, per market, and how to ask them for it.
Before you start
Every search linked from this page is run by a government agency, a regulator or an exchange, and every one of them is free. If someone offers to check on your behalf for a percentage, they are charging you for a search you can run yourself in a browser.
Djeli holds none of this. We do not have your name, your holdings or your ID number, and there is nothing to search here — this page only tells you where the real search lives and what it will ask you for.
Nigeria
₦215 billion₦215 billion was unclaimed, according to the SEC's Director-General speaking after the Capital Market Committee meeting. Higher figures circulate in the press; this is the one we could trace to the regulator. (as at March 2024)
The official search
Non-Mandated Dividends Search ↗ — run by the Securities and Exchange Commission
You will need: your first name and surname.
It tells you which registrar holds your account and gives you their mandate form. It does not tell you an amount.
check The SEC has warned publicly that only sec.gov.ng and the NIBSS portal are genuine e-dividend sites. Several third-party "unclaimed dividend checkers" appear in search results; we do not link them, and neither should you trust them with your details.
How to claim
- Search the SEC portal by first name and surname.
- Note the registrar the result names — that is who holds your money.
- Download that registrar's e-dividend mandate form.
- Submit it through your bank or the registrar, which is what starts the payments coming to you directly.
Held by your company's registrar — not the SEC, and not the company itself. The Finance Act 2020 was meant to move six-year-old dividends into a federal Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund, but as at the SEC's circular of 5 June 2025 that fund is still not operational, and the SEC has directed companies and registrars to keep honouring claims in the meantime.
deadline Do not assume you are too late. A 12-year statute bar is widely quoted, but the SEC's circular of 5 June 2025 directs companies to stop treating older dividends as barred and to keep paying claims. If a registrar refuses you on those grounds, cite that circular by name and date. — SEC circular, 5 June 2025
Watch for There is no account-dormancy rule here. The trap is an un-mandated account: if you never filed an e-dividend mandate, warrants were posted to whatever address the registrar had, and they simply pile up.
Registrars and transfer secretaries
SEC register of licensed operators ↗ · Institute of Capital Market Registrars directory ↗
Sources:SEC Nigeria (primary) ↗SEC Nigeria (primary) ↗The Punch ↗
South Africa
About R4.5 billionAbout R4.5 billion in unclaimed dividends, from FSCA research that the JSE was still quoting in 2025 — so treat it as a 2022 number. Total unclaimed financial assets of every kind were put near R90 billion in the same work. (as at 2022)
The official search
JSE Claim It ↗ — run by the JSE
You will need: your ID number.
In the JSE's own words, it only finds unclaimed dividends for participating companies. A nil result is not proof you are owed nothing.
fee Computershare: “As of the 1st of October 2026, an administration fee of 20% incl. VAT is applicable to the recovery of unclaimed dividends.” Read on Computershare's own pages on 10 August 2026, and dated in the future — so it reads as announced rather than in force. The JSE's Claim It route is free. Start there.
How to claim
- Search Claim It with your ID number. This costs nothing.
- If it finds something, complete the transfer secretary's change-of-details form.
- Submit FICA documents — Computershare asks for a photo of yourself holding your ID, a utility bill under three months old, and a bank statement under three months old in your own name.
Held by the company's transfer secretary — Computershare or JSE Investor Services — or your CSDP where the shares are dematerialised. There is no central fund; the FSCA has proposed one but it does not exist.
Employee and empowerment schemes
- Phuthuma Nathi (MultiChoice) ↗ live
Over R270 million was still unclaimed as at December 2025, against more than R19.2 billion paid out since 2006. Check through the i-eX platform under My Account, then Dividends, then Cash. No fee stated.
- Sasol Khanyisa ↗ live
Has its own unclaimed dividends page and routes holders to JSE Claim It. Note the structure: only about 2.5% of a Sasol South Africa dividend reaches Khanyisa's public shareholders.
- Sasol Inzalo ↗ closed in September 2018
Concluded on 7 September 2018. Its trading platform was never a regulated exchange, so Financial Markets Act protections did not apply to it. Computershare handles the residue on 0800 000 222.
- MTN Zakhele Futhi ↗ unwound in 2025
Paid a first distribution of R20.00 a share on 28 July 2025 and is delisting. It paid no dividends during its life. There is no unclaimed-distributions page, which is a real gap for anyone whose banking details were stale at payout — contact the administrator, Singular Systems.
Registrars and transfer secretaries
Computershare Investor Services ↗ · JSE Investor Services · FSCA unclaimed retirement benefits ↗
Sources:JSE (primary) ↗JSE (primary) ↗Computershare (primary) ↗
Kenya
About KSh 57 billionAbout KSh 57 billion was held by the Authority, and a 2021 estimate put a further KSh 241 billion still sitting with the companies and banks that hold it. Reunification is the weak part: only around KSh 2.3 billion has reached claimants in total. (as at early 2026)
The official search
UFAA Find and Claim ↗ — run by the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority, under the National Treasury
You will need: your ID number, or your name.
check On 10 August 2026 the UFAA web portal failed certificate validation, so a browser will warn you it is unsafe. That is a genuine problem with the government site, not with your device — and it is exactly the condition phishing clones exploit. Until it is fixed, use the USSD code *361# or telephone 020 4023000 rather than typing your ID into anything that throws a warning.
How to claim
- Search by ID number or name, on *361# or the portal.
- Complete Form 4A, which a lawyer must commission.
- Complete Form 5, the indemnity agreement, also commissioned by a lawyer.
- Get an original letter from the holder confirming they remitted the asset to the Authority.
- Submit lawyer-certified ID, your KRA PIN certificate, a payment details form and a bank or M-Pesa statement — plus an affidavit if your name differs across documents.
Held by the Unclaimed Assets Trust Fund, in an account at the Central Bank of Kenya. The Authority holds it on the public's behalf under the Unclaimed Financial Assets Act 2011.
deadline There is no deadline, and this is Kenya's best feature. In the Authority's own words, owners can claim at any time and do not lose assets once remitted. The three-year figure you may see is the dormancy period after which a holder must hand the asset over — it is not a claim deadline. — Unclaimed Financial Assets Act, 2011
Watch for You may read that a CDS account goes dormant after 24 months of inactivity. That rule was real from 2019, but CDSC reportedly lifted it in late 2022 and now treats an untraded account as inactive rather than dormant. We could not confirm this directly — the notice has gone offline — so do not rely on either version. If your account is frozen, a signed CDS 1 form and a copy of your ID through your stockbroker reactivates it.
Registrars and transfer secretaries
Sources:UFAA (primary) ↗UFAA (primary) ↗CDSC Kenya (primary) ↗
Ghana
No central public search has been established for this market. The registrars below are the people to ask directly.
check A document titled "Guidance on Unclaimed Dividends" is still hosted on the SEC Ghana site and ranks in search results. It is a DRAFT from 31 July 2006, written under a law that has since been repealed, and its comment deadline expired in 2006. The "15 months" figure circulating for Ghana comes from it. The Companies Act 2019 governs — ignore the draft.
How to claim
- In the first three months after a dividend is declared, claim it from the company.
- For the twelve months after that, the company must hold it in a dedicated interest-bearing account — still claim from the company.
- After fifteen months the company must have paid it to the Registrar of Companies with the interest. Claim from the Registrar, on what the Act calls satisfactory evidence.
- There is no published form and no published evidence standard. Contact the Office of the Registrar of Companies directly on 0308249841 or info@orc.gov.gh.
Held by the company for the first fifteen months, then the Registrar of Companies, in an interest-bearing account opened with the Board's approval. The Act does not say which bank holds it.
deadline Ghana is the one market here where you can lose the money outright. Three months, then twelve more, then seven years with the Registrar — eight years and three months in total from declaration. At that point half goes to the Consolidated Fund and half to investor education and research, and the Act provides no route to claim it after that. — Companies Act 2019 (Act 992), sections 73 and 74 — read from the statute itself
Registrars and transfer secretaries
Sources:Parliament of Ghana (primary) ↗SEC Ghana (primary) ↗Government of Ghana (primary) ↗
Botswana
No central public search has been established for this market. The registrars below are the people to ask directly.
How to claim
- Watch for your company's annual notice — issuers advertise for unclaimed dividends on or about 31 December each year.
- Contact the officer named in that notice and submit identification.
Held by the company itself. The central depository maintains registers for issuers but is explicitly not the registrar, so it cannot pay you.
deadline Check your own company's constitution, because this is not a national rule. Access Bank Botswana's dividend policy says dividends unclaimed three years after declaration may be appropriated by the company, and Botswana Insurance Holdings has the same clause. Where it applies, the money goes to the company rather than the state — which makes it the shortest clock in this list. — company constitutions and dividend policies, not statute — it varies by issuer
Watch for There is no account dormancy rule. The problem is paper: the depository only arrived in 2008, and the unclaimed cheques are mostly against certificates issued before it.
Registrars and transfer secretaries
Sources:Access Bank Botswana (primary) ↗Botswana Stock Exchange (primary) ↗
Uganda
No central public search has been established for this market. The registrars below are the people to ask directly.
How to claim
- Contact the issuer's share registrar. The depository sends the registrar an entitlement schedule and the registrar pays, so an unpaid dividend is the registrar's to resolve.
- There is no published claim procedure, and the Capital Markets Authority publishes no registrar list we could verify.
Held by the issuer's registrar.
deadline No forfeiture rule for dividends was found. You may see a seven-year rule sending balances to the Bank of Uganda and then to the Consolidated Fund — that is the National Payments System Act 2020 and it covers mobile money and payment balances, not shares. Do not assume it applies to your dividends.
Malawi
No central public search has been established for this market. The registrars below are the people to ask directly.
How to claim
- We could not establish a process. The Malawi Stock Exchange website carries nothing on unclaimed dividends, registrars or the depository, and we will not guess at one.
- Ask the exchange directly on +265 1 824 233, or the company whose shares you hold.
BRVM (eight West African states)
No central public search has been established for this market. The registrars below are the people to ask directly.
How to claim
- Contact your SGI — the broker who holds your account. The DC/BR is the depository, and there is no separate registrar profession in this market.
- No unclaimed-dividend procedure is published by the exchange.
Held by the issuer or your SGI.
deadline Practitioners report a five-year prescription under OHADA company law, running from the decision to distribute, after which the company may take the dividend back into its accounts. We could not read that in the Uniform Act itself, so treat it as reported rather than established — and ask your SGI. — OHADA Uniform Act on commercial companies — reported, not verified against the text
Registrars and transfer secretaries
Source:BRVM (primary) ↗
Egypt
No central public search has been established for this market. The registrars below are the people to ask directly.
How to claim
- Work through your custodian or broker, then MCDR, which is the registrar by law for centrally deposited shares.
- MCDR delivers balances and dividend information by phone, SMS, email and post, and lists bank branches where investors can exchange coupons. Its portal requires a login and the requirements are not published.
Held by the issuer, through MCDR.
deadline A five-year limit sending unclaimed dividends to the State Treasury is reported under the Companies Law framework. We could not reach the statute to confirm it, and a wrong escheatment claim would be actively harmful — so verify with the Financial Regulatory Authority or MCDR before relying on it. — Companies Law No. 159 of 1981 framework — reported only, unverified
Registrars and transfer secretaries
Source:Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry (primary) ↗
Last reviewed 10 Aug 2026. Rules and portals change; the linked source is the authority, not this page.