REMEMBER the old savings account you opened for the big summer holiday years ago?

Or what about that old uncle who said he'd left money somewhere for you?

It is thought there is £5billion lying in dormant bank accounts in Britain, although it could be as much as £20bn.

Now HBOS is aiming to reunite £44m held in approximately 110,000 old accounts.

It's the first financial provider to start such a campaign and is inviting consumers to visit its website or visit a Bank of Scotland to reactivate accounts.

Mike Regnier, head of savings at the group, said: "Our job is to reunite as many of our customers as is possible with their cash.

"We are launching our campaign so we have as much time as possible to get the cash back to its owners."

And the time factor could be crucial. Last year Gordon Brown created a task force to look at the possibility of taking unclaimed money to use for a social venture capital fund and to help charity.

But you don't have to be an account holder with the Bank of Scotland to uncover lost money.

Across Britain £3bn lies in unclaimed pension schemes, £1bn in unclaimed matured life policies, and £3bn in unclaimed shares, dividends and unit trusts.

The Unclaimed Assets Register is one way to trace some of these assets - 80% of the UK's life companies are registered with the scheme.

For £18, it will search its register for a deposit, bond or policy due to you.

The Government's Pension Service can track occupational pensions and the Pension Tracing Service has access to a database of 200,000 pension schemes.

Its help is free of charge, as is that offered by the Building Societies Association to trace old accounts. The British Bankers' Association also offers a free service.

National Savings and Investments and premium bonds are possible goldmines - £2bn in national savings products are unclaimed.

CONTACTS: •Unclaimed Assets Register: www.uar.co.uk •Pension Tracing Service: 0845 6002 537 •Building Societies Association: www.bsa.org.uk •British Bankers' Association: www.bba.org.uk, and 020 7216 8909 •National Savings and Investments: www.nsandi.com •Premium Bond prizes: 0845 964 5000, or online- there's a link on the NS&I website.