2 million accounts closed over BVN, NIN, others

In order to clear their records of dubious accounts and abide by regulatory directives on the linking of bank accounts to the National Identity Number, or NIN, commercial banks in Nigeria cancelled 2.021 million bank accounts in the first quarter of 2024, or Q1’24.

This is stated in a report released by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System, or NIBSS. The research also showed that, from 19.3 million in February 2024 to 19.7 million in March 2024, the number of inactive bank accounts increased month over month, or MoM, by four million, or 2.0 percent.

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

The Nigerian Interbank Settlement System, or NIBSS, compiles monthly data from banks called the “Industry Bank Account Database.” According to this database, the number of active bank accounts increased by 6.62 million, or 3.0%, to 219.64 million from 213.02 million in February.

Remember that all commercial banks in the nation received an order from the CBN in December 2023 to prohibit Tier-1 accounts that are not connected by Thursday, March 1st, 2024, and do not have a valid Biometric Verification Number (BVN) and National Identity Number (NIN).

As of April 2024, 61.6 million Nigerians were BVN enrolled, according to NIBSS data.