Nigerian commercial banks have shut down over 2 million accounts in the first quarter of 2024, in a move aimed at cleaning up their books and enforcing regulations.
This crackdown follows a December 2023 directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) requiring all banks to restrict tier-1 accounts (basic transaction accounts) that are not linked to both the National Identity Number (NIN) and the Biometric Verification Number (BVN).
According to a report by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), over two million accounts were closed in line with the CBN’s directive. These closures likely targeted accounts with suspicious activity or those belonging to customers who failed to comply with the NIN-BVN linkage requirement.
The NIBSS report also revealed a rise in the number of inactive bank accounts. These accounts, defined as having no transactions for six months, grew by four million to reach 19.7 million in March 2024, compared to 19.3 million in February.
However, the report offers a positive outlook as well. The number of active bank accounts in Nigeria saw a healthy increase of 6.62 million, reaching 219.64 million in March from 213.02 million in February. This suggests that despite the closures, Nigerians are still actively opening new accounts.
