In the initial three months of 2024, commercial banks across Nigeria have shuttered approximately 2.021 million bank accounts as part of a broad initiative to purify their ledgers and adhere to regulatory demands involving the linkage of accounts to the National Identity Number (NIN).
According to a recent analysis by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), there was also a notable increase in dormant accounts, with the figures rising by 4 million or 2.0 percent, totaling 19.7 million in March 2024, up from 19.3 million in February.
An account falls into the inactive category if it has not seen any form of transactions such as deposits, withdrawals, or transfers for six months.
Furthermore, the monthly "Industry Bank Account Database," which gathers data from various banks and is compiled by NIBSS, revealed that the tally of active bank accounts surged by 6.62 million or 3.0 percent, reaching 219.64 million in March from 213.02 million in February.
The push for stricter compliance began in earnest in December 2023 when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mandated all commercial banks to freeze tier-1 accounts that lacked proper Biometric Verification Numbers (BVN) or were not linked to a NIN by March 1, 2024.
As per the latest figures from NIBSS, as of April 2024, around 61.6 million Nigerians have been registered with a BVN, highlighting the ongoing efforts to enhance security and regulatory compliance within the banking sector
0 Comments