CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso

Four banks have published details of no fewer than 321,181 dormant accounts following a directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria, The PUNCH reports.This comes as economic analysts have warned that the CBN directive raises major concerns around customer communication, account reactivation procedures, business failures, and privacy. The published dormant accounts span individuals, companies, cooperatives, churches, clubs, community associations, and small businesses that have remained inactive for over 10 years. The banks include Access Bank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank, and Fidelity Bank Plc. The disclosures followed the CBN’s July 2024 Guidelines on Management of Dormant Accounts, Unclaimed Balances and Other Financial Assets, which directed financial institutions to publish dormant account details on their websites six months before such funds become eligible for transfer to the apex bank’s Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund Pool Account. Analysis of the published records showed that Access Bank listed 243,934 dormant accounts, Stanbic IBTC published 26,135 dormant accounts, Fidelity Bank disclosed about 61,900 dormant accounts, while Union Bank published 212 dormant and unclaimed accounts that had remained inactive for 10 years and above.

Punch