It is likely that "the majority" of money lying in dormant investments and bank accounts belongs to elderly people, Credit Action said today.

Deputy director of the money education charity, Chris Tapp, said that elderly people are more likely than most to overlook past investments and encouraged those who believe they may have unclaimed assets to contact their bank.

"If you think that it's at all possible - no matter how old you are, but particularly if you're more elderly - that you might have some money sitting away somewhere, [then] go out and claim it," he said.

The unclaimed assets register states that there is an estimated £15.3 billion in dormant bank accounts, investments and savings. A bank account is considered dormant if it has not been used in 15 years.

A Treasury select committee recently recommended that money in dormant bank accounts should be reinvested into society through charity schemes and other good causes.

The Treasury is the United Kingdom's economics and finance ministry responsible for formulating and implementing the government's financial and economic policy.