Banks’ Drive For New Deposits Grow Account Numbers By 6m

According to data obtainable on the website of the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), the custodian of banking industry data, total savings account rise from 59.737 million as at January to 65.435 million by the end of September 2016.

The federal government had implemented the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in September last year, pulling out government funds from the banks. This had prompted the deposit money banks to focus

on one of their core mandates of deposit sourcing from the public.

As the TSA had taken over N2 trillion from the banking sector, the drive to increase deposits had prompted the banks to change tactics. Some of the banks had gone to the streets opening accounts for individuals, while some others had simplified their account opening process, allowing intending customers to open accounts from the comfort of their homes through the Internet or via USSD codes.

This had translated in an increase in bank accounts in the country. Between September last year and September this year, the number of savings account had increased by 14.8 per cent from 57 million to 65.44 million while total bank accounts held rose by 10.34 million or 12.5 per cent. Year to date, total bank accounts in the country grew by 6.77 million or 7.8 per cent from 86.57 million.

Meanwhile, banking sector credit to the private sector rose slightly the third quarter of the year from N15.53 trillion in the second half to N16.18 trillion as at September 30, as electronic payment in the country increased by 17.8 per cent.

According to the banking industry credit to  the private sector report released by the National Bureau of Statistics, credit to 17 sectors of the economy ranging from oil and gas to manufacturing, agriculture, commerce and technology rose by N657.65 billion in the three months period.

The oil and gas sector which received the highest chunk of credit from the banking sector had a total amount of N3.65 trillion. This represents 22.5 per cent of the total banking sector credit to the private sector in the third quarter of this year.

Loans to the manufacturing sector followed, with a total sum of N2.13 trillion or 13.2 per cent of the total credit, while power and energy received N428.4 billion. Construction industry got N631.4 billion while trade and commerce got N973 billion and government got  N1.3 trillion, real estate, N760.2 billion; education, N89.3 billion; information and communication, N957.9 billion and finance, insurance and capital market, N933.34 billion.