Bank Account Holders Rose By 30.2% To 160 Million—-NIBSS

The total number of bank account holders in the country rose from 122 million to 160 million during a one year period.

The data which was released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System covers the period of May 2019 and May 2020.

According to NIBSS, the 160 million bank customers as of May this year represents an increase of 30.2 per cent.

Despite the negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, the NIBSS data showed that over 29.67 million new bank accounts were opened during the period of the health crisis.

The country had witnessed the index case of the COVID- 19 in February, while the government declared lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States before asking other states to join the lockdown.

The data showed that between January and May this year, the number of account holders grew by 35 million.

Further breakdown of the data showed that the country had 111.53 million active accounts out of the 160 million as of May this year.

The NIBSS data showed that total current account holders dropped in May 2020 to 25.17 million from 29.15 million recorded in May 2019.

Similarly, the number of avings account holders rose to 129.9 million in May 2020 from the 89.59 million recorded in May last year.