Nigerian banks close 2 million accounts over BVN, NIN, others

In the first quarter of 2024, or Q1’24, at least 2 million bank accounts were closed by Nigerian commercial banks.

The objective of the action was to remove questionable accounts, especially since some clients disregarded legal directives to link their accounts to their National Identity Numbers, or NINs.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, ordered all commercial banks in the nation to limit Tier-1 accounts without a valid NIN and Biometric Verification Number, or BVN, in December 2023.

According to information obtained in a recent report from the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), more than two million accounts were closed in compliance with a mandate from the CBN.

Additionally, the NIBSS reported that the number of inactive bank accounts increased from 19.3 million in February to 19.7 million in March 2024, a month-over-month (MoM) increase of four million, or 2.0 percent.

Vanguard was able to obtain access to the report, which also showed that the nation’s total active bank account count increased by 6.62 million, or 3.0 percent, from 213.02 million in February to 219.64 million.

When a bank account has no entries for six months—not including deposits, withdrawals, transfers, or point-of-sale transactions—it is deemed inactive.

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