Do You Still Need to Fly Home to Open a Nigerian Investment Account?

For years, the honest answer to "can I invest in Nigeria from abroad" came with an asterisk. Opening some Nigerian accounts meant either flying home to sign paperwork in person, or leaning on a relative to stand in a banking hall on your behalf. That asterisk just got smaller.

A BVN, Bank Verification Number, is the identity number every account in Nigeria's banking system is tied to. Getting one used to require walking into a Nigerian bank branch in person, camera and fingerprint scanner included, which is exactly the step most people abroad could not take without a trip home. In May 2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria, working with the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System, launched a Non Resident BVN: the same identity check, built to be completed remotely, with no branch visit required.

A few months earlier, in January 2025, the CBN introduced two account types built specifically for non-resident Nigerians: a Non Resident Ordinary Account for everyday banking, and a Non Resident Investment Account for moving earnings from abroad into Nigerian investments without first holding a standard resident account. Together, the stated aim is to let a Nigerian abroad remit earnings, hold funds, and invest in Nigerian assets, in foreign or local currency, without the old requirement to be physically present.

None of this replaces the basic check that matters everywhere: confirm any bank, broker, or fund manager is genuinely registered before sending money. The Securities and Exchange Commission keeps a public register of licensed capital market operators, and it takes a few minutes to check a name against it. For a Nigerian already living and banking in Nigeria, this whole process is beside the point. It exists specifically to remove the in-person requirement for people outside the country, which had been one of the more stubborn procedural gaps between diaspora Nigerians and the investing access covered elsewhere on this site.

Whether a specific bank or broker has fully wired this into its own onboarding is still worth confirming directly. The rule changed at the regulatory level in 2025. Whether the app already in your hand reflects it is the one question only your own bank can answer.