THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has disclosed that it would create a dedicated office to manage dormant accounts and unclaimed balances in the nation’s banks.
In a guideline released on July 25th, the apex bank said that the office would be supervised by a management committee which would manage the funds in trust, refunding the principal and any accrued interest to beneficiaries within 10 working days of receiving a reclaim request from financial institutions.
A savings or current account is classified as ‘inoperative’ or ‘dormant’ if there have been no transactions in the account over a period specified by the CBN.
The issued document titled, “FAQs – Guidelines on Dormant Account and Unclaimed Balances”, reads in part: “The interest payable shall be at a rate to be determined by the CBN from time to time. For non-interest banks, the profit and loss on the unclaimed balances shall be determined by the CBN from time to time.
“The CBN will refund the principal and any interest on the invested funds to the beneficiaries within ten (10) working days of receiving a reclaim request from the FI.”
Furthermore, CBN stated that financial institutions are required to notify customers immediately and every quarter when their accounts become inactive or dormant.
To reactivate a dormant account, the account owner must submit a reactivation form to their financial institution, providing proof of ownership and a valid form of identification.
Recall that the CBN recently implemented a stricter guideline to manage dormant accounts in financial institutions.
After 10 years of dormancy, the guidelines allow eligible account balances and unclaimed financial assets to be transferred to a special account managed by the CBN.
The ICIR reported how Nigerians expressed anger over the CBN’s plan to tamper with investors’ unclaimed dividends following this guideline.
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at [email protected] (jameskennyogunyale@gmail) or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames