Monies in dormant accounts prone to fraud – Cardoso

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.

“In addition, the committee expressed optimism about the recent stop-gap measures by the Federal Government to bridge the food supply deficit. In particular, the 150-day duty-free import window for food commodities (maize, husked brown rice, wheat and cowpeas), amongst others, will moderate domestic food prices. It is noteworthy that these measures will not lead to a direct injection of liquidity into the economy to cause further inflation.

“While the measure is a welcome development and may prove effective in the short run, it is expedient that it be implemented with a defined exit strategy to avert a possible rollback of the recent gains in domestic food production. To support these initiatives, the Bank is already engaging development finance institutions like the Bank of Industry to ensure adequate support for industries with a focus on small and medium-scale enterprises,” he declared.

On the gross domestic product of the country growth projections, the CBN governor said, “Real GDP (year-on-year) grew by 2.98 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, compared with 3.46 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, driven by both the oil and non-oil sectors. Staff forecasts, however, suggest that the domestic economy will grow by 3.38 per cent in 2024, while the IMF has projected growth at 3.1 per cent in 2024. As of July 18, 2024, external reserves stood at $37.05bn, compared with $34.70bn as of end-June 2024. This represents 11 months of import cover for goods and services.”

Meanwhile, analysts at Afrinvest were worried about the apex bank’s optimism over the Federal Government’s stop-gap to tame food inflation in the country.

“We have reservations with CBN’s optimism that the 150-day duty-free import window for selected food items would substantially temper food prices. Without the FG addressing the rising cost of logistics fuelled mainly by elevated energy prices and insecurity, the impact of such policy would be short-lived, at best.

“Furthermore, there has also not been any formal model announced to show how the beneficiaries of the duty-free window would be monitored to sell the staple items at fair prices across the country.”