The federal government has scooped up more than $400 million in unclaimed money from Australian bank accounts this year, with $85 million linked to account holders overseas.

The windfall follows the previous government's introduction of lower thresholds for what constitutes an inactive account - from seven years to three years.

Source: Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

A breakdown of the inactive accounts by BusinessDay reveals a large amount of the offshore cash comes from depositors in Asia, with more than $8 million linked to addresses in China, Hong Kong and Japan.

A total of $48 million has come from Asia, along with $19 million from Europe and $8 million from North America.