Royal Mail has announced that it can help banks and building societies trace dormant account holders by using the information contained in its redirection database.

The organisation says it has approximately 16 million records of address changes contained within its files.

And it claims that trials of using those records to trace lost account holders have been successful 60 per cent of the time.

According to a Royal Mail spokesperson, the main reason accounts become dormant is account holders changing address without informing their bank or building society.

"Our unique information on people who have moved home over the past 16 years helps us identify them," added Leonora Corden, Royal Mail head of market development.

In related news, the government recently expressed a belief that funds in dormant accounts should be used as a social fund.

One building society, Halifax, says it has an estimated 110,000 dormant accounts with around £44 million in unclaimed funds.

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