The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, has said that monies in dormant accounts in banks are susceptible to fraud.
He said this on Tuesday at the end of the 296th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee in Abuja, where he announced a further hike in the benchmark interest rate to 26.75 per cent.
The CBN recently directed financial institutions under its watch to transfer funds in dormant accounts, unclaimed balances and other financial assets to its custody for safekeeping.
According to the apex bank, the objective of the move includes identifying dormant accounts/unclaimed balances and financial assets to reunite them with their beneficial owners; holding the funds in trust for the beneficial owners; standardising the management of dormant accounts/unclaimed balances and financial assets; and establishing a standard procedure for reclaiming warehoused funds.
At the MPC meeting, Cardoso said, “With respect to dormant accounts, what I found personally is if you leave accounts dormant in banks, sometimes more than when you don’t leave them dormant in banks. In fact, most times, they are more susceptible to fraudsters copying your identity and trying to gain hold of the system to grab your money. So, that is a problem I think most money banks face.”
“The policy and the directive are meant to ensure that all those monies come to the central bank for safekeeping and it is at zero cost to the beneficiaries. All that will happen is that the central bank will manage the money within our possession and when the rightful owner surfaces, the money is returned plus whatever income is accrued to you.”
Also, the CBN governor noted that members of the MPC emphasised the need for a clear exit strategy on the recently announced duty waiver for food imports.
