In a bid to enhance transparency and regulatory compliance, commercial banks in Nigeria took decisive action in the first quarter of 2024, closing a staggering 2.021 million bank accounts. This move was aimed at purging their books of questionable accounts and aligning with regulatory directives mandating the linkage of bank accounts to the National Identity Number (NIN).
A report by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) revealed that the number of inactive bank accounts surged by 2.0 percent to 19.7 million in March 2024 from the previous month, February. An account is deemed inactive if it registers no transactions, including deposits, withdrawals, transfers, or point-of-sale transactions, for six consecutive months.
Conversely, the data also unveiled a positive trend, with active bank accounts witnessing a notable increase of 6.62 million or 3.0 percent to 219.64 million. This surge reflects the broader efforts by financial institutions to bolster compliance with regulatory measures, particularly following the Central Bank of Nigeria's directive in December 2023, which mandated the linkage of tier-1 accounts with valid Biometric Verification Numbers (BVN) and NIN.
As of April 2024, data from NIBSS indicated that 61.6 million Nigerians had registered for BVN, underscoring the significant strides towards achieving nationwide compliance with these critical regulatory requirements.
