In the first quarter of 2024, commercial banks in Nigeria closed over 2 million bank accounts, as reported by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS). The report also showed a month-on-month increase of 4 million inactive bank accounts, totaling 19.7 million in March 2024, up from 19.3 million in February. These measures were implemented to purge questionable accounts and adhere to regulations requiring bank accounts to be linked with the National Identity Number (NIN).
An account is deemed inactive if it has no transactions, including deposits, withdrawals, transfers, or point-of-sale activities for six months.
Additionally, the “Industry Bank Account Database,” monthly data reported by banks and compiled by NIBSS, revealed an increase of 6.62 million active bank accounts, a 3.0 percent rise to 219.64 million in March from 213.02 million in February.
It’s important to note that in December 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed all commercial banks to restrict tier-1 accounts lacking proper Biometric Verification Numbers (BVN) and NINs by March 1st, 2024.
As of April 2024, NIBSS data indicates that 61.6 million Nigerians are enrolled with BVN.
In a recent development, nine fintech companies have frozen a total of 105 accounts associated with unauthorized foreign currency transactions, money laundering, and terrorism financing.
This action follows a petition by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the Federal High Court in Abuja.
On April 24, 2024, the court granted an interim order to freeze the accounts for ninety days pending further investigation.
The affected fintechs include Fairmoney Microfinance Bank (6 accounts), VFD (2 accounts), Kuda Microfinance Bank Ltd (27 accounts), Opay Digital Services (43 accounts), Carbon MTB (7 accounts), MoMo Payment Service Bank (1 account), Pagatech (8 accounts), PalmPay Ltd (5 accounts), and Moniepoint (6 accounts).
The EFCC is scrutinizing 1,146 bank accounts suspected of being involved in currency racketeering; the frozen accounts are part of this investigation.
The EFCC suspects that the owners of some of these accounts have used cryptocurrency platforms to manipulate the exchange rate of the naira against the US dollar.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede recently informed journalists that approximately 300 accounts were previously frozen due to their connection with illegal peer-to-peer trading.
He further explained that over the past year, more than $15 billion was illicitly moved through an unnamed foreign exchange platform, contravening financial regulations.
