At least five million bank accounts were deactivated by Deposit Money Banks operating in the country on Saturday night following the October 31, 2015 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria for bank customers to register and obtain their Bank Verification Numbers, findings by our correspondents showed on Monday.
The affected customers were, among other things, barred from withdrawing cash and transferring funds through Automated Teller Machines, Internet banking platforms and over-the-counter in the banking halls.
The development created chaos in the banking halls across the country on Monday as angry customers besieged several branches to get their suspended accounts reactivated.
Long queues were seen in various banking halls when one our correspondents visited some branches in Lagos.
Similar situations were recorded in Abuja, Port Harcourt and other major cities across the country.
Findings showed that a significant number of the five million customers whose accounts were suspended had obtained their BVNs but failed to link it with their account numbers.
Branches of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc visited in Surulere, Yaba, Isolo and Oshodi in Lagos all had long queues of customers filling forms to verify their BVNs.
Majority of the customers expressed anger as they filled the verification forms given to them by bank officials.
However, some of the customers, who had obtained the BVNs but failed to link them up with the account numbers, had their accounts reactivated immediately.
It was observed that majority of the customers that failed to lodge their complaints were those who had obtained the BVNs but failed to visit their banks to link the number up with their accounts.
Due to the high number of people in the banking halls, majority of the customers who filled the BVN verification form were asked to drop it in anticipation that the banks would reactivate the accounts later.
The spokespersons for First Bank, GTBank, Access Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Skye Bank Plc declined to give the number of bank accounts they deactivated on Saturday night.
However, officials of some banks, the CBN and the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc said at least five million bank accounts were deactivated by the DMBs on Saturday night when the CBN deadline expired.
The Managing Director, NIBSS, Mr. Ayo Shonubi, had early last month said only 14 million BVNs had been linked to customers’ bank accounts.
As of the time, he said 19 million customers had registered and obtained their BVNs, indicating that six millions customers had yet to get their BVNs linked to their respective bank accounts…
-Punch
Filed under: News Tagged: Banks block five million customers’ accounts
