Following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new guidelines on dormant accounts, many bank customers rushed to their banks on Tuesday to reactivate their accounts and avoid losing their savings.
The guidelines aim to identify dormant accounts with balances that have remained with financial institutions for 10 years and beyond, and reunite them with their beneficial owners.
Customers, including relatives of deceased account holders, flocked to banks to submit requests to re-activate inactive accounts or withdraw amounts left in them. A bank official confirmed the surge in customers seeking to reactivate their accounts, saying, “Yes, we have seen customers coming to the bank to reactivate their accounts… Even relatives and next of kin to dead persons have submitted applications to withdraw amounts left in the account of their loved ones.”
Some customers shared their experiences, including Mrs. Ugonne Akputa, who reactivated her six-year-old Access Bank account to save her money, and Mr. Cyprian Yusuf, who sought to retrieve his late brother’s savings for his family’s benefit. Another customer, Mrs. Chinny Olaedo, appealed to banks and the CBN to ensure the safety of customers’ monies, especially those abroad.
Bank officials assured customers that accounts would only be declared dormant after six months of inactivity and that they would be notified accordingly. The CBN’s guidelines aim to standardize the management of dormant accounts and establish a procedure for reclaiming warehoused funds.
