Nigerian Banks Close 29.4 Million Accounts Amid NIN-BVN Compliance Push; 33 Million Now Inactive

As of March 2025, Nigerian commercial banks recorded 29.4 million closed bank accounts, reflecting an aggressive cleanup of questionable accounts and efforts to comply with regulatory mandates. This move aligns with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive mandating that all Tier-1 bank accounts be linked with a National Identity Number (NIN) and Biometric Verification Number (BVN) by March 2024. The number of closed accounts marked a significant uptick from 22.54 million recorded in March 2024, representing a 30.43% year-on-year increase.

In addition to account closures, the number of dormant bank accounts—those with no recorded transactions for six months or more—also spiked dramatically. According to the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), there were 33.39 million inactive accounts as of March 2025, up from 19.79 million in March 2024, showing a 71.3% year-on-year growth. This reflects broader compliance efforts and customer disengagement due to identity verification challenges.

Despite the closures and dormant accounts, the banking sector demonstrated a strong rebound in overall account activity. Active bank accounts rose significantly to 320.05 million by March 2025—a 45.7% increase from the 219.64 million recorded in March 2024. This suggests that while banks are purging inactive and unverified accounts, a growing number of Nigerians are also becoming financially active, likely driven by mobile and digital banking adoption.

The massive account cleanup was triggered by a CBN directive issued in December 2023, which required that all commercial banks restrict access to Tier-1 accounts not linked with BVN and NIN by March 1, 2024. This regulatory push aimed at improving financial security and identity traceability has led to a significant rise in BVN enrollments. As of July 2025, BVN registration stood at 66.23 million, up from 61.6 million in April 2024.

Amid these changes, the banking infrastructure has also contracted slightly. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nigerian banks closed 234 branches and 649 ATMs, likely in response to the shift toward digital banking and cost optimization. While the clean-up has posed challenges for some customers, the long-term goal appears to be a more secure and digitally inclusive banking system with verified users and fewer fraud-prone accounts.

Source: Vanguard