Duties

The State Treasurer is Missouri state government’s chief financial officer. The treasurer’s office manages Missouri’s $19 billion in annual state revenues; directs the state’s banking services; and manages Missouri’s $3.1 billion investment portfolio. The office safeguards more than $220 million in unclaimed assets that have been turned over to the state by banks, businesses, insurance companies and government agencies, and tries to locate the rightful owners. The state treasurer also serves on the management boards of a number of public entities. The state treasurer is one of six statewide elected officials, and serves a term of four years. A person may only serve as state treasurer for two terms.

The state treasurer serves as Missouri government’s banking director. While not a bank itself, the treasurer’s office must authorize payments and balance accounts. To protect taxpayers’ money, the State Treasurer maintains a separate accounting system to provide a check and balance on the state accounting system, and distributes investment earnings to the proper funds. The office contracts with Missouri banks to process the state’s receipts and disbursements; handle money and security transfers; report on the state’s accounts, balances and payment activities; and provide related banking services such as data processing. Bidding for state banking services contracts is open to all Missouri banks.

The state treasurer determines the amount of state funds not needed for current operating expenses and invests those funds in interest-bearing time deposits in Missouri banks, U.S. treasury and federal agency securities, repurchase agreements, banker’s acceptances and top-rated commercial paper. Safety is the treasurer’s number one priority in the investment of the public’s funds. Staff investment specialists monitor major investment markets and work to maximize the state’s return on investments without compromising safety. The office has an average of $3.1 billion invested daily, earning the state millions of dollars in interest income each year.

The treasurer’s office is responsible for Missouri’s largest “lost and found,” the state’s Unclaimed Property program. State law requires financial institutions, insurance companies, public agencies and other business entities to turn over assets that belong to a customer, client, employee or other rightful owner if there have been no documented transactions or contact with the owner for five or more years. The treasurer’s office operates an aggressive program to return unclaimed assets to the original owners or their legal heirs. Most unclaimed property consists of cash from bank accounts, stocks, bonds, and contents of safe deposit boxes that have been abandoned. It also can include uncollected insurance policy proceeds, government refunds, utility deposits and wages from past jobs. The Unclaimed Property section does not handle real property such as land, houses, cars and boats.

The office currently is holding more than $220 million in unclaimed property and funds in more than 1.5 million owner accounts. All unclaimed property is held in trust by the state forever and can be claimed at any time. To recover unclaimed property, claimants must be either the original owner of the property or a legal heir. All services of the Unclaimed Property program are free of charge. People can check to see if the Treasurer’s Office is holding unclaimed property that may belong to them using its searchable database at www.showmemoney.com.

The state treasurer chairs the Missouri Saving for Tuition or MOST board. Developed by the State Treasurer’s Office in 1999, the MOST program encourages Missouri families to save for higher education while taking advantage of significant federal and state tax benefits. Accounts can be opened with as little as $25 or $15 through payroll deduction. Contributions of up to $8,000 annually can be deducted from Missouri income taxes and all earnings are free of state and federal income taxes. Funds from MOST accounts can be used to pay for all eligible educational expenses at virtually any two- or four-year college or university, vocational, technical or professional school anywhere in the country.

MOST accounts are managed by UPromise, one of the world’s largest and most respected financial management firms. For more information about MOST, call toll free: 1-888-414-MOST, or visit the web site at https://missourimost.s.upromise.com/.

BIG Missouri Linked Deposits Program

The BIG Missouri Linked Deposit program is administered through the State Treasurer's Office to enable financial institutions to make low-cost loans to businesses and farms to create jobs and help Missouri's economy grow.

State funds are deposited in financial institutions at a discounted rate, and that discount is passed along to borrower. The loans and all associated risks are the responsibility of the bank. Borrowers save 25 percent to 30 percent on capital they need to help their businesses and farms become viable.

BELIEVE

Bringing Educational Leadership by Investing and Expecting Victory in Every child (BELIEVE) is our acronym for this program which really focuses on the power of faith in our kids. Part of the inspiration for this idea comes from the “I Have a Dream” foundation. The foundation began with founder Tom Kelly telling a 6^th grade class of students in a severely disadvantaged school district that he would pay for all of them to go to college. Although 3/4 of those students were expected to drop out of school without graduating, 90% of them graduated high school or received their GED and 70% went on to college and very successful careers. Interviews with those students years later revealed a simple reason for the significant successes they had achieved: someone believed in them!!

The state treasurer serves on the governing boards of three large public entities: the Missouri Housing Development Commission, which assists in the creation of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income Missourians; Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System, which manages retirement funds for more than 56,000 state employees and retirees; and Board of Fund Commissioners, which issues, redeems and cancels state general obligation bonds and other debt. She also serves on the boards of the Missouri Investment Trust and the Missouri Historical Society.