Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have shut no fewer than 592 branches and cash centres across Nigeria between 2014 and 2025, with the pace of closures accelerating sharply in the last three years, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) 2025 Statistical Bulletin for the Financial Sector. The data showed that the number of DMB branches and cash centres declined from 5,526 in 2014 to 4,934 in 2025. Of the total reduction, 476 locations, representing about 8.8 per cent, were closed between 2022 and 2025, with about 92 per cent of that decline occurring in 2024 and 2025. Analysts attributed the closures to the growing adoption of electronic transactions, the expansion of agency banking networks, and rising insecurity in parts of the country, including bank robberies and other social vices. Economic experts warned that the rapid reduction in physical banking infrastructure could have negative implications.
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