Nigeria’s Social Media Account Requirement for A Bank Account Is Bad Policy

You want financial inclusion. You want financial services to go digital. You want the poor to have bank accounts. Then magically you want banks to ask customers for their Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc, accounts as part of the requirements to open a bank account. How do you reconcile those objectives when most of these citizens may not have social media accounts?

“In a landmark ruling, the Federal High Court in Lagos upheld a new regulation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) requiring financial institutions to collect the social media handles of their customers as part of the standard Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedures.”

Sure, as part of due diligence and KYC, in financial transactions and contracting, checking social media may be important. But I am not sure how having social media accounts could help banks model the best possible customers, from the angle of risk, since 99.9% of these customers will never qualify for credits.

Possibly, a two-layer system may be better here: you can  open an account without a social media  account requirement. But if you want a loan, a bank may be required for you to disclose your social media accounts, positing that those accounts could provide clues on your credit worthiness and risks you pose to the bank.

Good People, I do not see why a bank should ask one to provide a social media handle in an age where we already provide NIN (national ID number) and BVN (bank verification number). Ease of doing business should not be a buzzword in Nigeria; we need action to simplify commerce!

A Court Upholds Central Bank of Nigeria’s Regulation Requiring Social Media Handles of Bank Customers

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