U.S. financial institutions, including IBKR, are subject to state statutes which require that client accounts deemed "abandoned" be turned over to the state in which the client resides.  These statutes are intended to protect consumers who may have lost contact with the financial institution as funds which have been turned over or escheated are then held by the state who, in turn, attempts to contact the owner or their heirs and return the funds.

The definition of abandonment varies by state but generally refers to accounts which have had no activity or contact for an extended period, in some cases as little as 3 years. To minimize the likelihood of an account being classified as abandoned, IBKR will attempt to contact inactive clients and have them simply log into their account, at which point the account is considered active for purposes of these statutes.

If an account is determined to be abandoned, IBKR remit the balance to the state in which the client resides which may result in positions being liquidated.  In the case of clients who reside outside the U.S., the funds will be remitted to IBKR's state of incorporation, Connecticut.

Once funds have been escheated to a state, they cannot be retrieved by or through IBKR. Clients, however, may directly claim the assets from the state to which they were escheated.  Most states maintain a public website which allows one to search their unclaimed property database and initiate a claim for assets. In addition, the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators maintains a website containing links to each of the individual state's databases: www.unclaimed.org.