Active bank accounts hit 311.65m in December – NIBSS

Latest data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System has revealed that the volume of active accounts in the Nigerian banking system rose to 311.65 million as of December 2024.

This marks a 48.89 per cent appreciation in the 12 months from January 2024, when the figure stood at 209,311,667, to December, when it hit 311,649,173. In essence, about 102,337,506 new accounts had been activated within the period.

Previous NIBSS data showed that active bank accounts in the country stood at 202.6 million at the end of 2023.

The data also indicated that the volume of dormant or inactive accounts had also increased between January and December 2024 to 19,697,125, which is about a 6.52 per cent increment.

For closed accounts, the volume also increased, rising by 17.40 per cent or 3,777,648, between January and December 2024 to settle at 25,486,054.

According to the World Bank, access to a transaction account is the first step toward broader financial inclusion since it allows people to store, send, and receive money.

The bank said that as of 2021, the number of Nigerians with accounts at regulated institutions such as banks, credit unions, microfinance institutions, post offices, or mobile money service providers increased by 45 per cent.

The World Bank said that while global account ownership increased from 51 per cent in 2011 to 76 per cent in 2021, in Nigeria, account ownership grew from 30 per cent to 45 per cent in the same period.

The Central Bank of Nigeria adopted the National Financial Inclusion Strategy in 2012 to drive financial inclusion in the country. The strategy articulated the demand-side, supply-side, and regulatory barriers to financial inclusion, identified areas of focus, set targets, determined key performance indicators, and established the implementation structure. The NFIS was built on four strategic areas: agency banking, mobile banking/mobile payments, linkage models, and client empowerment.

Four priority areas were identified for guideline and framework development, namely, tiered Know Your Customer regulations, agent banking regulations, the National Financial Literacy Strategy, and consumer protection.

Meanwhile, the 2023 EFInA Access to Finance Survey revealed that more Nigerians are now captured in the formal banking system even as gaps persist.

Financial inclusion rose to 74 per cent in 2023 from 68 per cent in 2020, while 26 per cent of Nigerians remained financially excluded.

“Despite the growth in access, certain demographic gaps continue to persist in Nigeria. For instance, the gender gap: growth in women’s financial inclusion from 60 per cent in 2020 to 70 per cent in 2023 despite an increase in the gender gap from eight per cent recorded in 2020 to nine per cent in 2023. Urban-rural gap: decrease in the gap from 24 per cent recorded in 2020 to 20 per cent in 2023. Youth (18-35): 71 percent financial inclusion recorded in 2023. Northern Nigeria: despite growing access, including significant gains in the North-East and North-West, all states in the North-East report exclusion levels above the national average,” the report said.

At the second edition of the International Financial Inclusion Conference 2024 with the theme ‘Inclusive Growth—Harnessing Financial Inclusion for Economic Development,’ held in November, the CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso, said that financial inclusion has the potential to unlock significant economic growth, particularly through the empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises, women, and other vulnerable segments of the population.

Cardoso highlighted the CBN’s significant progress in promoting financial inclusion for vulnerable populations through frameworks aimed at closing gender gaps and providing regulatory support for digital platforms that enhance access to financial services. He further explained that the CBN was committed to empowering young Nigerians to attain financial independence, encouraging entrepreneurship, and stimulating economic growth across the country through focused financial literacy initiatives.

He emphasised that the adoption of digital payment channels using mobile technology had been a transformative tool for financial inclusion, with Nigeria’s growing mobile phone penetration offering a unique opportunity to expand access to financial services, noting that interoperable payment platforms had enabled millions of Nigerians to send payments, save, and access credit even without traditional bank accounts.