Fresh disclosures by several commercial banks have revealed the scale of dormant accounts across Nigeria’s banking sector, with more than 321,000 inactive accounts now published in compliance with a directive issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The disclosures, made by Access Bank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank, and Fidelity Bank Plc, have triggered debates among economists, business leaders, and financial analysts over customer privacy, business closures, and the difficulties many Nigerians face when attempting to reactivate abandoned accounts.
The move followed the apex bank’s July 2024 Guidelines on the Management of Dormant Accounts, Unclaimed Balances and Other Financial Assets, which directed financial institutions to publicly disclose dormant accounts at least six months before such balances are transferred into the CBN’s Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund Pool Account.
Analysis of the published records showed that Access Bank accounted for the largest share, with 243,934 dormant accounts. Fidelity Bank disclosed about 61,900 dormant accounts, Stanbic IBTC published 26,135 entries, while Union Bank listed 212 dormant and unclaimed accounts inactive for more than a decade.
The figures cover a wide spectrum of account holders, including individuals, small businesses, churches, cooperatives, clubs, schools, associations, and corporate organisations that have remained inactive for at least 10 years.
Business Closures Reflected in Dormant Accounts
A deeper look into the records suggests that Nigeria’s harsh economic environment and rising business mortality rates may be contributing significantly to the growing number of inactive corporate accounts.
The Access Bank register showed an almost equal distribution between personal and business accounts, with 122,390 individual accounts and 120,718 corporate accounts.
At Fidelity Bank Plc, however, corporate accounts dominated the list. Of the nearly 61,900 dormant accounts published, about 48,900 belonged to businesses and institutions, representing roughly 79 per cent of the total entries.
The accounts reflected widespread inactivity among small and medium-scale enterprises operating across sectors such as logistics, hospitality, oil and gas servicing, pharmaceuticals, marine operations, informal trade, and education.
Several dormant accounts were traced to major commercial hubs including Idumota, Oyingbo, Allen Avenue, Awolowo Road, and Ladipo in Lagos, while similar clusters appeared around Port Harcourt’s oil-service districts and major northern trading centres.
Stanbic IBTC’s register, which extended beyond 1,500 pages, also revealed concentrations of inactive accounts in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri, and Ibadan.
The publication largely covered current accounts, salary accounts, joint accounts, and institutional accounts.
Meanwhile, other leading banks adopted different compliance methods. United Bank for Africa Plc maintained only an unclaimed dividend register, while First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Zenith Bank Plc provided online search portals for customers to check affected accounts instead of releasing comprehensive public lists.
Guaranty Trust Bank Plc published dormant account management guidelines without attaching account details, while Ecobank Nigeria offered account reactivation services but did not release a public dormant accounts register.
Analysts Raise Questions Over Privacy and Communication
Economic experts who spoke on the development argued that the directive has exposed major weaknesses in customer communication within Nigeria’s banking industry.
The Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, said the publication requirement suggested banks had not done enough to stay in contact with customers whose accounts became inactive.
“I think it’s more about getting the banks to communicate a lot more with their customers because if the CBN is compelling them to publish, it’s a communication issue,” Yusuf said.
He noted that many account holders abandon their accounts after businesses collapse or economic hardship forces them out of operation.
“The mortality rate of businesses has grown significantly. When you are running a business, you have an account, and the business collapses because of a whole lot of issues. You just walk away from everything,” he explained.
According to Yusuf, Nigeria’s worsening economic climate has increased the number of failed micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, many of which simply disappear without formally closing their banking relationships.
He also criticised what he described as burdensome account reactivation procedures, arguing that banks still demand unnecessary documentation from customers trying to reclaim dormant accounts.
“We need to simplify as much as possible the process of resuscitating dormant accounts,” Yusuf said. “If I have my ID card, I will give you my name. I have my BVN. I have my NIN. Why are you asking me for the NEPA bill?”
Yusuf further urged authorities to simplify access to funds belonging to deceased persons, saying many Nigerian families struggle through lengthy bureaucratic processes before they can recover such balances.
“It’s not fair for the families of people who have died to have huge amounts of money in their accounts, and they cannot access it,” he added.
Concerns Over Public Disclosure
Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Uyo, Akpan Ekpo, questioned the rationale behind publicly releasing dormant account information.
Ekpo argued that the CBN already possesses sufficient regulatory powers to inspect dormant accounts directly from banks without exposing customer details to the public.
“The Central Bank has examiners who can go to a bank and ask for accounts and know what they have to do without making it public,” he said.
He warned that the publication of dormant account holders could expose customers to security and privacy risks.
“For me, it bothers me about privacy. Because if you publish that person A has a dormant account, it doesn’t look good in terms of the environment we are living in. You can expose the person,” Ekpo stated.
The economist also questioned the monetary policy relevance of the disclosure exercise.
“I don’t see any reason why that has a monetary policy purpose. They should communicate more about why they want to do it,” he added.
Former President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gabriel Idahosa, said dormant accounts arise for various reasons ranging from customer deaths and relocations to bank mergers and abandoned businesses.
“Companies collapsed, failed, and the owners did not bother to withdraw all the balances from accounts,” Idahosa explained.
He noted that many Nigerians eventually abandon small balances because of the stress associated with reclaiming them from successor banks after mergers and acquisitions.
“Especially for small amounts, people just forgot about it because of the trouble pursuing it,” he said.
Idahosa also warned that public disclosures could trigger legal battles and family disputes over hidden assets.
“Ordinarily, the central bank should not do that because of the privacy doctrine in the relationship between the customer and the bank,” he said.
He added:
“It could lead to some chaos in some families, who may find that their parents have lots of money in an account and they never knew about it. Now there will be battles among the children to come and get it.”
CBN Defends Move Against Fraud Risks
Under the 2024 guidelines, the Central Bank of Nigeria maintained that dormant balances had become increasingly vulnerable to fraud, abuse, and unauthorised transactions if left unchecked for long periods.
The apex bank said accounts eligible for transfer to the Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund include savings accounts, current accounts, domiciliary accounts, prepaid wallets, stale drafts, unclaimed salaries, deposits for shares, and other abandoned financial assets inactive for at least 10 years.
To improve transparency and customer awareness, the CBN also directed banks to regularly notify dormant account holders through emails, letters, and text messages while maintaining detailed audit trails and quarterly reports on dormant balances.