As at the end of 2025, a total of N17.63 billion, $150 million, £1.47 million and €0.66 million in dormant account balances, had been remitted by banks in the country into the Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund (UBTF), a reflection of the growing stockpile of unclaimed financial assets in the country’s banking system despite nearly 20 million inactive bank accounts still awaiting their owners.
The latest figure of the UBTF, domiciled with Central Bank of Nigeira is coming as four commercial banks published details of more than 321,000 dormant accounts in compliance with the CBN’s directive requiring financial institutions to disclose dormant accounts before transferring eligible balances into the UBTF, drawing fresh attention to the billions of naira and foreign currencies lying idle in forgotten bank accounts across the country.
The disclosures by the banks have not only exposed the magnitude of abandoned funds within the banking system but have also ignited fresh conversations about customer awareness, business failures, data privacy and the difficulty many Nigerians face in reconnecting with financial assets they left behind years ago.
The publication followed the CBN’s 2024 Guidelines on the Management of Dormant Accounts, Unclaimed Balances and Other Financial Assets in Banks and Other Financial Institutions, which require banks to publish dormant account details six months before such balances become eligible for transfer to the apex bank’s UBTF Pool Account.
While not every dormant account qualifies for transfer into the UBTF, the guidelines which was released in 2024, states that an account becomes dormant after six months without customer initiated transactions. However, only balances that have remained dormant for 10 years or more are transferred into the trust fund established by the CBN under the provisions of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020.
The objective, according to the CBN, is to standardise the management of dormant accounts, unclaimed balances and other financial assets while ensuring that the funds remain protected until their rightful owners come forward.
Contrary to the opinion of some, the transfer of dormant balances does not amount to forfeiture, as the ownership remains with customers or their legal beneficiaries, who retain the right to reclaim the funds after providing satisfactory proof of ownership through their financial institutions.
An analysis of the published records of banks showed that Access Bank listed 243,934 dormant accounts, Stanbic IBTC Bank published 26,135, Fidelity Bank disclosed about 61,900 dormant accounts, while Union Bank published 212 dormant and unclaimed accounts that had remained inactive for more than 10 years.
Together, the four lenders identified about 321,181 dormant accounts belonging to individuals, companies, churches, schools, cooperatives, clubs, community associations and small businesses.
While the figures represent only a fraction of dormant accounts across the banking industry, they offer a rare glimpse into the size of a growing problem that regulators are now racing to address. To improve transparency and simplify the reclaim process, the CBN has continued to strengthen the infrastructure supporting the management of dormant funds.
In 2025, it launched the Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund Reporting Portal, directing banks to migrate historical and future returns from the Licensing and Reporting Portal to the new platform. By the end of the year, 16 banks had successfully completed the migration with a total of N17.63 billion, $150 million, £1.47 million and €0.66 million in dormant account balances already remitted.
The CBN in its 2025 annual report said “banks continued to remit funds into the designated pool accounts. The balances in the pool accounts stood at N17.63 billion, US$0.15 billion, £1.47 million, and €0.66 million at the end of 2025. The ongoing compliance remained critical in mitigating risks associated with dormant funds, as regular remittances ensured that unclaimed balances were centrally monitored and effectively managed.
Aside this, the CBN said it had also developed additional features, including a verified reclaim request module and a public search portal expected to become operational this year. “To further enable financial institutions maintain comprehensive records of remitted funds and submit returns, the Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund (UBTF) Reporting Portal was launched in 2025. Going forward banks were directed to move the submission of their returns (historical and future) from the CBN Licensing and Reporting Portal (LARP) to the UBTF reporting portal. By end-2025, 16 banks had migrated their data to the UBTF portal.
“Additional functionalities, including a verified reclaim-request module and a public search feature were developed in the review period and scheduled for implementation in 2026. The search tool will enable members of the public to view basic, non-sensitive information (such as customer names) related to unclaimed balances, while ensuring that confidential details remain protected.” The CBN report stated.
The search platform will enable Nigerians to check whether their names appear on the list of unclaimed balances without exposing confidential customer information, a move expected to help thousands of individuals and families discover forgotten financial assets.
The challenge of reconnecting owners with abandoned funds is one that extends beyond the CBN. According to the Managing Director of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr Oludare Sunday, tracing beneficiaries remains one of the corporation’s biggest operational hurdles as it performs its duty of paying depositors of failed financial institutions.
“There are depositors we have not been able to trace, and this is an opportunity for them to come forward,” the NDIC MD said while providing an update on payments to depositors of liquidated banks.
He explained that the NDIC now works with the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System to identify depositors through their Bank Verification Numbers and automatically credit alternative accounts where possible.
“For every account that has a Bank Verification Number (BVN), we trace the depositor’s alternative account in another institution and make payment automatically. So, the more accounts we discover, the more payments we make,” he said.
Yet, he said many older accounts remain difficult to trace. “I am sure many of us did the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and may have left some money in an account, but there was no BVN then. Even the addresses we had were sometimes things like ‘opposite filling station.’ How do you trace such a person?” he asked.
His remarks mirror the challenge confronting regulators as they attempt to reconnect millions of Nigerians with financial assets that have remained untouched for years. The revised guideline covers much more than ordinary savings accounts.
Eligible balances include current accounts, term deposits, domiciliary accounts, deposits for share purchases and mutual investments, prepaid card accounts, digital wallets, government owned accounts, unclaimed salaries, commissions and bonuses, stale drafts, unclaimed judgment debts and other financial assets designated by the CBN.
Accounts that are subjects of litigation, under investigation by law enforcement agencies or encumbered by legal liens are exempt from the transfer process.
The guidelines released by the CBN state that where balances have already been transferred into the UBTF, owners or beneficiaries are required to submit applications through their financial institutions, supported by valid identification, proof of residence and evidence of ownership.
To encourage customers reclaim their funds the guidelines prohibit banks from charging customers any fee for reactivating dormant accounts. The warehoused funds are invested in Nigerian Treasury Bills and other approved securities pending successful claims, with the CBN requiring that verified beneficiaries receive their money, together with any applicable interest, within 10 working days of an approved request.
For customers, however, the easiest solution lies in prevention. The apex bank has urged Nigerians to keep their banking records current by updating changes to their names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and next of kin, while corporate customers are expected to regularly update information relating to directors, authorised signatories and business addresses.
