Number of active bank accounts rises to 151 million — NIBSS

The number of active bank accounts in Nigeria increased to 151 million in December 2022, new data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) has revealed.

Despite a 13 percent growth in the number of active bank accounts in 2022, 72.8 million accounts were dormant. BusinessDay analysis of the NIBSS data showed that the total number of active bank customers (individual) increased by 19.3 percent to 146 million in 2022 from 122.3 million reported in 2021.

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The number of current accounts rose by 14 percent to 56.9 million in 2022 from 49.8 million recorded in 2021 and savings accounts increased by 16 percent to 139.2 million in 2022 from 120.4 million in 2021.

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 number of Nigerians with accounts at regulated institutions such as a bank, credit unions, microfinance institutions, post offices, or mobile money service providers, increased by 45 percent in 2021, the global bank reported.

However, the Washington-based bank stated that while global account ownership increased from 51 percent in 2011 to 76 percent in 2021, Nigeria’s account ownership growth only grew from 30 percent to 45 percent in the same period.

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To achieve more inclusive financial inclusion at an affordable rate, industry experts have advised that Nigeria should leverage technology to give access to its excluded population.