Dormant Account

The CBN issued a revised circular on July 19, 2024, detailing updated guidelines for managing dormant accounts, unclaimed balances, and other financial assets. According to the circular, any balances in dormant accounts—whether savings, current, domiciliary, term deposits or others—will be transferred to the Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund (UBTF) Pool Account after 10 years of inactivity.

Unclaimed balances are account balances and other financial assets that have remained dormant for a minimum of ten years in the books of financial institutions (FIs) and qualify for transfer to the CBN.

Accounts eligible for dormant status include current accounts, savings accounts, term deposits in local currency, domiciliary accounts, deposits for shares and mutual investments, prepaid card accounts and wallets, government-owned accounts, and any other types specified in the CBN Guidelines.

Accounts that may be inactive for 10 years or more but are not considered dormant include:

• i. Accounts involved in litigation.
• ii. Accounts with a judgment debt where the judgment creditor has not claimed the awarded amount and the case remains active in court.
• iii. Accounts under investigation by a regulatory authority or law enforcement agency.
• iv. Encumbered accounts, including those with collaterals or liens.

Financial institutions shall transfer unclaimed balances to the CBN immediately after the accounts have been dormant for ten (10) years.

The CBN is responsible for issuing regulations for the management of dormant accounts and unclaimed funds/balances. According to the Guidelines, the CBN will receive and manage eligible funds in trust for account holders and fund beneficiaries.

The CBN will manage unclaimed balances by warehousing the funds in the Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund (UBTF) Pool Account and subsequently investing them in Nigerian treasury bills and other approved securities.

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.

This is an account maintained by the CBN for the purpose of warehousing and managing unclaimed balances in eligible accounts

• • Account owners shall visit the Financial Institution (FI) to complete an Asset Reclaim Form.
• • Provide evidence of account ownership, a sworn affidavit of support, and valid identification.
• • The FI shall verify the claim and initiate the request with supporting documents to the CBN within ten (10) working days.
• • The CBN shall refund the monies to the account of the beneficiaries within ten (10) working days from the date of receipt of the FI’s request.

• I. Customers can either visit any Ecobank branch for reactivation of dormant accounts or visit the Ecobank website (Nigeria) and click on “Update your account details” to proceed to the data entry page of the Customer Information Update portal.
• II. The account owner will receive a notification upon reactivation of the account.
• III. Upon reactivation of an account, the customer must make a deposit, transfer, or withdrawal on the same day