Domiciliary Account Requirement in Nigeria

For some, this may actually be the first time they will be coming across the name domiciliary account and they may be wondering what is a domiciliary account. Well, I am not going to keep you in suspense for too long so let me quickly and briefly explain what a domiciliary account (popularly called a Dom Account) means, how it can be opened, and who can own an account.

A domiciliary account is a type of account you can open with any financial institution in Nigeria which operates in all other currencies other than in Naira. Normally, when you open either savings or a current account in Nigeria, the account is usually run in Naira (i.e. depositing and withdrawing of Naira notes) however when it comes to a domiciliary account, you cannot pay in or withdraw in Naira. You can only pay in and withdraw in the foreign currency the account was opened with.

In Nigeria, you can open a domiciliary account in US dollars, Euros, or Pounds. Although there are other currencies with which you can open a domiciliary account this may be subject to your choice of the financial institution you intend to use. You may be wondering who can open a domiciliary account and how to open an account.

Provided that you have attained the legal age of 18 years, you can open a domiciliary account in your name, and even if you are not up to the legal age, your parents or guardian can do so on your behalf and that account will be under their control until you attain the legal age of 18 years.

To open a domiciliary account is quite simple and does not require any special formalities. To open a domiciliary account, kindly walk into any bank you choose and demand the application form. But before you do so, kindly make sure you have the following;

1. Your Bank Verification Number (BVN)
2. Any legal means of Identification (e.g National Identification Number (NIN), International
3. Passport, or Voter’s card)
4. 2 passport photographs
5. 2 References (who must either operates a domiciliary account or current account whether it is an individual or business account)
6. Utility bill (e.g Waste bin bill, PHCN bill, Telephone bill, etc) for the last 3 months

Note that your family member or someone you share the same last name with cannot be your reference

Once you have all the above-mentioned documents, head to your bank of any choice and fill out the application form and submit it. The bank will do their verification and will get in touch with you once they are done.

You may be wondering, what are the benefits of using a domiciliary account? Watch this space as I will be talking about it very soon.