Inactivity API for Banks in Nigeria: Dormant Accounts and the CBN Guidelines
The CBN’s dormancy rules set duties at each step from a quiet account to a transfer. An inactivity API lets a Nigerian bank run those steps early, reach the customer and keep the records.
Entrustt is an inactivity API for Nigerian banks. It watches for accounts that have gone quiet, contacts the customer, tries the person they named if needed, and keeps a record of every step.
The steps the guidelines set
- Warn the customer before the account becomes dormant.
- Track and record inactive accounts.
- Try to reach the account holder, or the beneficiaries they named.
- Verify identity before an account is reactivated.
- Report to the CBN.
Reports say balances dormant for long enough move to the CBN-managed Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund pool, and that a March 2026 circular dropped the affidavit for reactivating accounts that have not yet been transferred. Confirm against the current text.
What an inactivity API should do
- Quiet-period thresholds you can set per product, such as current and savings.
- A warning stage before the dormancy date.
- Events sent to your core banking system by signed webhook. See signed webhooks with HMAC SHA-256.
- Outreach to the customer first, then a consented second contact, with a staff member reviewing.
- The clock stops when the customer acts.
- An audit log you can show the CBN or an auditor.
- Consent records that fit the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.
For the technical side, read inactivity tracking API architecture.
More reading: CBN dormant account compliance checklist, inactivity monitoring software compared and customer lifecycle management for Nigerian banks.
Common questions
What is an inactivity API?
An API that tracks customer activity against rules you set, raises an event when an account goes quiet and starts the outreach steps.
When is a Nigerian bank account dormant?
TheCable’s summary of the CBN guidelines puts it at typically one year without a customer-started transaction for current accounts and two years for savings accounts. Check the current CBN text for each product.
What do the guidelines expect banks to do?
As commentary summarises them: warn customers before an account becomes dormant, track and record inactive accounts, try to reach account holders or their beneficiaries, verify identity before reactivation and report to the CBN.
Does the API make us compliant?
No. Compliance is the bank’s duty. The API helps you do the steps on time and show the records.
General information, not legal advice. Check the current CBN text before you change a process.