The intended purpose of the Dormant Financial Assets Bill was to extend the dormant accounts treatment of assets, other than life assurance and bank accounts, which have been dealt with in recent legislation. However, a secondary legislation approach can be adopted for some items and those requiring primary legislation can now be accommodated in the Financial Services (Consolidation) Bill.
The purpose of the Financial Services (Consolidation) Bill is to consolidate and simplify financial services legislation, in accordance with the Government's Better Regulation agenda. The Bill may also accommodate certain amendments to related primary legislation, for example, legislation to deal with dormant financial assets. It is expected that this Bill will be published in late 2005.