“Concerning dormant accounts, what I found personally is if you leave accounts dormant in banks, they are more susceptible to fraudsters copying your identity and trying to gain hold of the system to grab your money. So, that is a problem I think most money banks face.
“The policy and the directive are meant to ensure that all those monies come to the central bank for safekeeping and it is at zero cost to the beneficiaries.
All that will happen is that the central bank will manage the money within our possession and when the rightful owner surfaces, the money is returned plus whatever income is accrued to you.”
That’s CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, justifying that the monies in dormant accounts and unclaimed balances with banks for at least 10 years will be warehoused in a dedicated account known as the Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund Pool Account (UBTF).
The latest data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, showed that the number of dormant bank accounts in Nigeria is over 19.69 million.
In the NIBSS data, dormant accounts remained above 19 million every month since February 2024, with December closing at 19,697,125 inactive accounts.
This represents an increase of 1,205,000 from January’s figure of 18,492,169, marking a 6.51 per cent rise over the year.
The peak was recorded in May and June when the number reached 20.57 million before dropping slightly in the second half of the year.
The data further shows that there was an increase of 2.08 million dormant accounts between the first six months of 2024 before the CBN’s July directive on such accounts.
” Invest the funds in Nigerian treasury bills (NTBs) and other securities as may be approved by the ‘Unclaimed Balances Management Committee. Refund the principal and interest (if any) on the invested funds to the beneficiaries not later than 10 working days …”
The apex bank explains that the funds from dormant accounts, and unclaimed balances may be invested in Nigerian Treasury Bills and other government securities. The CBN, in its new guidelines, which is a review of the guidelines issued in October 2015, exempted dormant accounts and unclaimed balances under litigation and investigation.
The guideline reads: “CBN shall treat unclaimed balances (dormant accounts and financial assets) as follows:
“Open and maintain the ‘UBTF Pool Account’, maintain records of the beneficiaries of the unclaimed balances warehoused in the UBTF Pool Account.
“Invest the funds in Nigerian treasury bills (NTBs) and other securities as may be approved by the ‘Unclaimed Balances Management Committee. Refund the principal and interest (if any) on the invested funds to the beneficiaries not later than 10 working days from the date of receipt of the request and where it is imperative to extend the timeline, a notice of extension shall be communicated … stating reasons for the extension.”