DOMICILIARY ACCOUNT OPENING IN NIGERIA

HOW TO OPEN DOMICILIARY ACCOUNT IN NIGERIA

What is domiciliary (DOM) account? Domiciliary account is a special account in foreign currency especially in US Dollars opened in a local Bank that allows you to make international fund transfer in Dollars or other foreign currencies to make bulk payment in form of Bank Wire Transfer to fund Forex Trading account or to purchase equipment and other goods and services. It comes in when credit cards like MasterCard and VisaCard cannot come. However charges emanating from Wire Transfer in DOM account can be very high. Your local Bank in Nigeria will charge in Dollars (usually around $38) for a transfer of about $1000 to an oversea account. Dom account is funded and operated ONLY in dollars and is convertible to other foreign currencies.

TYPES OF DOMICILIARY ACCOUNT BEING OPERATED BY NIGERIAN BANKS

There are two types of DOMICILIARY Accounts being operated upon by some Nigeria Banks.

1. Current DOM Account

2. Savings DOM Account

CURRENT DOM ACCOUNT: is operated like a normal CURRENT ACCOUNT. However, you are issued cheque booklet denominated in dollars. The minimum balance is usually $100 in most Nigerian Banks. Examples of popular banks operating this kind of Account include Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Intercontinental Bank Plc, UBA, Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB), FinBank(formerly FirstInland Bank), First City Monument Bank (FCMB) etc.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

1. 2 Referees whom have operated Current account for at least 6 months (NOT SALARY ACCOUNT) with the Bank or any other Nigerian Bank. Usually it is better and faster to get referees from the same Bank because confirmation normally take just few minutes unlike 2 to 3 weeks from outside the Bank.

2. UTILITY BILLS like PHCN etc.

3. INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT (Very compulsory for most Banks) or Driver's license or National ID Card plus any other means of identification some Banks like UBA, Intercontinental Bank. WARNING: UBA does not deal with Forex Brokers, Intercontinental Bank, GTB, FinBank does.

4. About $100(N11, 900) for minimum balance and about $45 if you need MasterCard or VisaCard. Note that you need to fund your credit card before use since most Nigerian Banks operate credit card as a Debit card with the exception of Zenith Bank

SAVINGS DOM ACCOUNT: is operated like a normal SAVING ACCOUNT. However, no cheque booklet is issued. The minimum balance is usually $15 for Intercontinental Bank Plc. You can also obtain a MasterCard from Intercontinental Bank for around $45 along with Savings DOM Account if you like. However, you can equally open and operate a MasterCard separately in Intercontinental Bank without having to open a DOM Account. Intercontinental is the best here. They are very good in Savings DOM Account as well as MasterCard Account.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

1. 2 Referees whom have operated Current account for at least 6 months (NOT SALARY ACCOUNT) with the Bank or any other Nigerian Bank. Usually it is better and faster to get referees from the same Bank because confirmation normally take just few minutes unlike 2 to 3 weeks from outside the Bank.

2. UTILITY BILLS like PHCN etc.

3. INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT (Very compulsory for most Banks) or Driver's license or National ID Card plus any other means of identification some Banks like UBA, Intercontinental

Bank.

4. $15 minimum balance plus $45 for MasterCard if you like to have it together with the DOM Account and/or any other amount in dollars you want to wire abroad plus commissions for the wire transfer. However, you may not make immediate wire transfer. It depends on your needs.