CUSTOMERS THRONG BANKS TO RE-ACTIVATE DORMANT ACCOUNTS OVER CBN GUIDELINES
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Agency Report
Following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) rules on the handling of dormant accounts and unclaimed funds, bank customers have flocked to their banks in order to revive their dormant accounts.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday, a few of the clients stated they had opened bank accounts in order to prevent having their meager money squandered.
Businesswoman Mrs. Ugonne Akputa claimed that she had reactivated her six-year-old Access Bank account by depositing some money into it.
Akputa stated that she rarely took money from the account and that she still needed to keep it open.
”I went to my bank to make enquiries about my account which I have left for some time now.
”They told me that I should just pay in money into the account to activate it and I did,” she said.
Another First Bank client, Mr. Cyprian Yusuf, stated he was there to inquire about his late brother’s account.
Yusuf declared that he would not lose the money, even if he was unaware of the amount in the account.
”When I heard of this dormant account thing, I decided to quickly come to my late brother’s bank to ask them how I can retrieve the money.
”He died three years ago and I don’t think the account has been in operation.
”So, I want to see what I can do so that his wife and children can use the money at least to feed,” he said.
Another bank customer, Mrs Chinny Olaedo, appealed to banks and the CBN to ensure the safety of customers’ monies, especially those abroad.
”I live abroad but I came back to Nigeria for something very important to my family.
”I have a savings account in one of the banks and I have my savings there. I transferred some money into the account recently so that it will still be active but I know that many people abroad might not know about this or do this.
”The CBN and other banks should make things easier for us abroad so that many of us will still be operating our Nigerian accounts,” she said.
An account would need to be inactive for six months before a bank would deem it dormant, according to a bank representative who begged to remain anonymous.
According to the CBN’s guidelines, the bank would notify customers whose accounts were dormant.
According to the source, the bank was getting ready to provide reports to the CBN regarding the state of the accounts of their inactive clients.
Customers whose accounts were dormant were called by another bank worker, who also favored secrecy, to pay money into them in order to activate them.
Dormant accounts with balances that have stayed with the financial institutions for a period of ten years or longer are considered eligible accounts, according to CBN.
The apex bank said eligible dormant accounts/unclaimed balances and other financial assets including current, savings and term deposits in local currency, domiciliary accounts and unclaimed salaries and wages, commissions, and bonuses, among others.
The apex bank said the aim of the guidelines were to identify dormant accounts/unclaimed balances and financial assets with a view to re-uniting them with their beneficial owners, hold the funds in trust for the beneficial owners.
The bank said the objective was also to standardise the management of dormant accounts/unclaimed balances and financial assets and establish a standard procedure for reclaim of warehoused funds.
The CBN said it would open and maintain an account earmarked for the purpose of warehousing unclaimed balances in eligible accounts.
According to the CBN, the account would be called “Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund Pool Account”.
NAN reports that the CBN had also cleared Next-of-Kin (NoK), legal representative, or beneficial owner to make claims on unclaimed balances or funds in dormant accounts.
The bank said the NoK to dormant account owner could now make claims on unclaimed balances or funds in dormant accounts by submitting applications for the reclaims to the financial institutions.
NAN
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