Esta ley enmienda la Ley Bancaria de Puerto Rico para especificar que los avisos de cantidades no reclamadas en posesión de bancos deben listar los nombres de las personas naturales en orden alfabético, comenzando por los apellidos. También establece la publicación de esta información en las páginas web de los bancos y de la Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras.
To amend the first paragraph of subsection
(d) of Section 37(a) of Act No. 55 of May 12, 1933, as amended, known as the "Banking Act of Puerto Rico", in order to clarify that the names of the natural persons included in the notice of unclaimed amounts shall be in alphabetical order, starting with the last names, and for other purposes.
The Legislature of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is aware of the work carried out by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, seeking at all times to ease the compliance by the industry it regulates with the laws and regulations it administers.
This Legislature approved Act No. 346 of September 2, 2000, which in turn, amended Act No. 36 of July 28, 1989, as amended, known as the "Abandoned or Unclaimed Money and other Liquid Assets Act." The intent of this Act was, among other things, to clarify the corresponding sections "in order to ease the recovery of money and other liquid assets in the hands of holders out of Puerto Rico owned by persons whose last known address is in Puerto Rico." In the same way, it included banks regulated by Act No. 55 of May 12, 1933, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Banking Act."
The approval of Act No. 346, supra, however, did not clear up doubts as to the form in which financial institutions would publish their notices of unclaimed liquid assets, as stipulated by Act No. 346, supra, and Act No. 55, supra, and even that the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions should
constantly advise its regulated institutions of the format to be used when publishing said reports. The intent of this Act is to clarify in the Banking Act that said notices should be in alphabetical order, starting with the last names. This way, we bring coherence and specificity to our legal code.
Section 1.- Subsection
(d) of Section 37(a) of Act No. 55 of May 12, 1933, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Banking Act," is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 37(a). Unclaimed Accounts, Annual Reports. Every bank or foreign bank shall be bound to render an annual report to the Commissioner no later than August 10, as of the previous June 30, setting forth the amounts in custody of said institutions, in excess of one dollar ($1.00), which have been unclaimed by the depositor or the person entitled thereto for the preceding five (5) years, excluding:
(a) ...
(d) Any bank or foreign bank bound to submit the report required by the first paragraph of this section, shall publish a notice annually, once during each of the months of August and September, in a newspaper of general circulation, under the title "Notice Concerning Unclaimed Amounts in Custody of ..." The notice shall be published as a general list in alphabetical order. In addition, beginning on January $1^{ ext {st }}, 2004$, every bank shall publish the information so required in its webpage, and beginning on January $1^{ ext {st }}, 2005$, the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions shall require every institution to submit said information electronically so that the webpage of said office may contain a global list through which any citizen may verify alphabetically the existence of any unclaimed amount in any financial
institution in Puerto Rico. In the case the names are of natural persons, they shall be in alphabetical order, starting with the last names.
(e) ...
(f) ...'
Section 2.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 277 (H.B. 2175) of the $4^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend the first paragraph of subsection
(d) of Section 37(a) of Act No. 55 of May 12, 1933, as amended, known as the "Banking Act of Puerto Rico", in order to clarify that the names of the natural persons included in the notice of unclaimed amounts shall be in alphabetical order, starting with the last names, and for other purposes, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $6^{ ext {th }}$ of August of 2004.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director