Court Orders 71 Banks to Freeze Accounts Linked to N1.34bn Access Bank Fraud
The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered 71 banks and financial institutions to place restrictions on accounts allegedly linked to an unauthorised transfer of N1.34 billion from Access Bank customers’ accounts.
Justice Akintayo Aluko issued the order on Friday following an ex parte application filed by Ifeoma E. Enyinnaya, counsel representing Access Bank.
In the application filed on August 13, the bank told the court that it discovered the alleged fraud on August 12, 2026, involving some accounts domiciled with the bank.
According to Access Bank, the transactions were carried out through its internet banking platform known as the Access SME App.
The bank said an internal investigation revealed that a total of N1,340,425,393 had been transferred from customers’ accounts without authorisation into several accounts held with Access Bank and 71 other financial institutions.
Access Bank seeks account restrictions
Access Bank asked the court to prevent the beneficiaries of the allegedly stolen funds from accessing the money while investigations and recovery efforts continue.
Among the reliefs sought was an order directing Access Bank and the 71 financial institutions to place a post-no-debit (PND) restriction on the affected accounts and the Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) linked to them.
The bank also asked the court to order the financial institutions to disclose how much of the allegedly diverted funds remained in the beneficiary accounts.
It further requested that the BVNs associated with the accounts be placed on a watchlist until the entire N1.34 billion was recovered, but only to the extent of the amount received by each beneficiary.
Court grants three reliefs
Justice Aluko granted the first three reliefs sought by Access Bank.
However, the judge declined to grant the fourth relief, which sought an order directing the affected institutions to immediately reverse the recovered funds into an Access Bank account.
The court held that granting that particular request at the present stage would amount to making what appeared to be a final order, rather than an interim measure pending the determination of the substantive application.
The ruling therefore allows the restrictions and disclosure measures to proceed while the case continues.
Financial institutions affected
The institutions listed as respondents include several commercial banks, microfinance banks, payment service banks and fintech companies.
They include Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, FCMB, Globus Bank, GTBank, Jaiz Bank, Keystone Bank, Kuda, LAPO, Moniepoint, OPay, PalmPay, Polaris Bank, Providus Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Sterling Bank, Union Bank, UBA, VFD Bank, Wema Bank, Zenith Bank and several others.
The list also includes payment platforms and financial service providers such as Paga, FairMoney, Carbon, eTranzact, Renmoney, SmartCash, 9Payment Service Bank and 9japay.
The court’s order is aimed at preserving funds that may still be traceable to the alleged unauthorised transactions and preventing their further movement.
Access Bank’s application indicates that the investigation is focused on tracing the money across the various beneficiary accounts and recovering the funds to the extent that they can be identified and located.
The matter remains ongoing as the bank and relevant financial institutions work to determine the movement of the allegedly diverted N1.34 billion.
