The Australian Bankers Association has welcomed the federal government's plans to change its unclaimed money legislation, but maintains the laws have been unnecessarily rushed.Under the legislation, bank accounts and matured life insurance policies will be treated as unclaimed if no deposits or withdrawals are made for three years, rather than the previous seven. At that point, financial institutions must hand the money to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.The government announced on Monday that it would push the legislation through, saying that it would ensure that "lost super and bank accounts will stop being eroded by fees and inflation, be paid interest and reunited with their owners sooner". It also said it would "clarify a number of technical issues through regulation", including confirming the exclusion in most circumstances of children's accounts, First Home Saver Accounts and term deposits.ABA CEO Steven Münchenberg welcomed the clarifications and an extension of time for banks to implement the new law.But he said that banks would still be running "a dedicated process on behalf of the government ... This can be costly and disruptive and is particularly harsh for smaller banks.""If the policy intent of this legislation is to assist customers, proper consideration should have been allowed to ensure it achieved that result, with minimal risk to customers and cost to banks."