The number of active bank accounts in Nigeria increased to 151 million in 2022, a 13% growth when compared with 133.5 million active bank accounts recorded in 2021.
This was revealed in the latest e-payment data just released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). The NIBSS data shows that out of the active bank accounts, individual accounts represent 96.6% at 146 million, while the remaining are corporate accounts.
The data also shows that the number of current accounts rose by 14% to 56.9 million in 2022 from 49.8 million recorded in 2021. In the same vein, savings accounts increased by 16% to 139.2 million in 2022 from 120.4 million in 2021.
Active vs inactive accounts
Meanwhile, the number of inactive bank accounts in the country stood at 72.8 million in the year under review. From the NIBSS data, the total number of bank accounts in the country as of December 2022 was 223.8 million, out of which 151 million were actively in use.
- This shows an increase of 26% or 14.9 million increase in the number of inactive bank accounts for the year. At the end of 2021, inactive bank accounts stood at 57.9 million per NIBSS data.
- Industry analysts have cited several factors for the increasing number of inactive accounts in the country. According to them, these include an increase in the prices of goods and services, low income accompanied by the low purchasing power of Nigerians, increasing rate of unemployment, and immigration among others.
- An inactive or dormant account is a bank account that has had no activity on it for 12 months. Banks convert accounts with no activity for a long period into inoperative or dormant accounts to curtail the risk of fraud. By segregating the accounts, banks bring to their workers’ attention the risk involved in these accounts and call for their due diligence.
