1. About these terms
1.1 These terms and conditions ("Terms") govern every account, product and service that Viscount Microfinance Bank Limited ("Viscount", "the Bank", "we", "us") provides to you. They apply together with the product-specific terms, offer letters, mandates, tariff guide and privacy notice that we issue, each of which forms part of this agreement. If a product-specific document conflicts with these Terms, the product-specific document prevails for that product.
1.2 Viscount is a microfinance bank licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria ("CBN") under the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020 and the CBN's Revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Microfinance Banks. Deposits with Viscount are insured by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation ("NDIC"). Our conduct towards you is governed by the CBN Consumer Protection Framework and the CBN Consumer Protection Regulations, and nothing in these Terms limits any right you have under them.
1.3 By applying for an account, accepting an offer, or using any of our services, you accept these Terms. If you do not accept them, do not use our services.
2. Definitions
"Account" means any account you hold with us. "App" means the Viscount mobile application. "Authorised User" means a person a business customer has authorised to operate its Account in a given role. "Business Day" means a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in Nigeria. "Credentials" means your PIN, password, passcode, one-time passcode, biometric and any other security detail. "Electronic Banking" means the App, internet banking, cards, the virtual terminal, the developer API and any other electronic channel we provide. "NIP" means the NIBSS Instant Payment system. "Tariff Guide" means our published schedule of fees, as amended. "WAT" means West Africa Time. "You" means the customer and, for business customers, each Authorised User acting on the customer's behalf.
3. Eligibility and opening an account
3.1 Personal accounts may be opened by individuals aged eighteen or over who have a Bank Verification Number. Accounts for persons under eighteen are opened and operated by a parent or legal guardian who holds a Viscount account and who is responsible for the account until the minor reaches eighteen.
3.2 Business accounts may be opened by registered business names, companies, cooperatives, associations and other entities recognised under Nigerian law, on production of the registration and mandate documents we require.
3.3 We may decline an application without giving reasons where the law prevents us from giving them. Otherwise we will tell you why.
3.4 You confirm that the information you give us is true, complete and current, and you must tell us promptly of any change, including a change of name, address, phone number, employment, signatories, directors or beneficial owners. We may suspend services until updated information and supporting documents are provided.
4. Know-your-customer and account tiers
4.1 We identify and verify every customer under the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, the CBN's AML/CFT/CPF Regulations and the CBN's tiered know-your-customer framework. Personal accounts are opened at a tier determined by the identification provided, and each tier carries limits on single deposits, balances and transactions set by the CBN. You may upgrade by providing further identification in the App.
4.2 We may at any time ask for further information or documents about you, your business, the source of funds or the purpose of a transaction, and may suspend or restrict the Account until they are provided. We may screen you and your transactions against sanctions and other lists and may refuse, hold or report any transaction as the law requires, without notice to you where notice is prohibited.
5. Operating your account
5.1 We will act on instructions given through Electronic Banking using your Credentials, or in writing under your mandate, and may treat them as genuine and authorised by you. We may decline an instruction that is unclear, incomplete, exceeds available funds or a limit, breaches a rule you have set, appears fraudulent or unlawful, or would breach any law or regulatory requirement.
5.2 Funds are available for withdrawal when credited and cleared. Cheques and other instruments, where we accept them, are credited subject to clearing. We may reverse a credit made in error, including a credit received in error from another bank, and will tell you when we do.
5.3 You must not use the Account for any unlawful purpose, including money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, or the receipt or transfer of proceeds of crime, and must not allow anyone else to use it except Authorised Users of a business account acting within their roles.
5.4 Minimum balances, where any, and the interest we pay on balances are set out in the Tariff Guide and shown in the App.
6. Electronic banking and security
6.1 You are responsible for keeping your Credentials and devices secure. You must not disclose Credentials to anyone, including anyone claiming to be from Viscount; we will never ask for your PIN, password or one-time passcode. You must use a device PIN or biometric, keep the App updated, and remove devices you no longer use from the App.
6.2 You must tell us immediately through the support portal if you believe your Credentials or device have been lost, stolen or compromised, or if you see a transaction you did not authorise. Until you tell us, you are responsible for transactions made with your Credentials. After you tell us, you are not responsible for further unauthorised transactions unless you have acted fraudulently.
6.3 Under the CBN Consumer Protection Regulations, where a transaction was unauthorised and you have not acted fraudulently or with gross negligence, including by disclosing your Credentials, we will refund you after investigation. Where our investigation shows that you disclosed your Credentials or otherwise acted with gross negligence, you bear the loss up to the point you notified us.
6.4 We may set, and you may set lower, limits on transactions, and may hold a transaction that is outside your limits or rules or that our monitoring identifies as unusual, until you confirm it. We may suspend Electronic Banking to protect you or the Bank, and will restore it as soon as it is safe to do so.
6.5 We may send you alerts and notices by push notification, SMS, email and in the App. You must keep your contact details current and read alerts promptly.
7. Payments and transfers
7.1 Transfers between Viscount accounts are processed immediately. Transfers to other Nigerian banks are sent over NIP and are normally credited within seconds, but we do not control the receiving bank and a transfer may be delayed or returned by it. Transfers are final once accepted by the receiving bank.
7.2 You are responsible for the accuracy of the account number and bank you select. We show the account name returned by the receiving bank before you confirm; if you proceed to an account that is not the intended payee, we will try to recall the funds but cannot guarantee their return, which depends on the receiving bank and the recipient. We may charge the fee in the Tariff Guide for a recall request.
7.3 Bill payments and airtime are delivered by the biller or network; we are responsible for debiting your Account correctly and transmitting the payment, and will assist with a failed delivery, but the biller's own terms govern the service.
7.4 Scheduled and recurring payments, savings contributions and payroll runs will be made on the dates you set subject to available funds and your rules. If funds are insufficient we may retry or cancel the payment and will tell you.
7.5 We may refuse, delay or hold any payment where the law, a regulator, a court order or our risk rules require, and may not be able to tell you why.
8. Fees, charges and taxes
8.1 Our fees are set out in the Tariff Guide and shown in the App before you confirm a transaction. They are within the limits set by the CBN's Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial and Non-Bank Financial Institutions and will change if that Guide changes. We will give you at least thirty days' notice of any increase in fees that is within our control.
8.2 Value added tax applies to fees where the law requires. The Electronic Money Transfer Levy, currently ₦50 on each electronic receipt of ₦10,000 or more, is deducted and remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service as the law requires. Withholding tax at the statutory rate is deducted from interest and remitted to the tax authority, and we issue a credit note for it.
8.3 We may debit fees, charges, taxes and any amount you owe us from your Account. If the Account has insufficient funds we may debit it when funds are received.
9. Deposits and interest
9.1 Interest on savings and current balances, where payable, is calculated and credited as set out in the Tariff Guide. The rate on a fixed-period deposit or savings plan is stated before you confirm and is fixed for that period. Interest is computed daily on a 365-day year unless stated otherwise.
9.2 A fixed-period deposit or locked savings plan may be withdrawn before maturity only on the early-withdrawal terms shown before you confirm, which may include forfeiture of interest, a fee or a notice period. Principal is always returned.
9.3 At maturity, a fixed-period deposit is paid to your Account or renewed, according to the instruction you have given, which you may change before the maturity date.
9.4 Deposits with Viscount are insured by the NDIC up to the maximum the NDIC sets from time to time per depositor per bank, currently ₦2,000,000, across all accounts you hold with us. Viscount does not offer securities, collective investment schemes, foreign-currency investments or cryptocurrency.
10. Credit
10.1 Credit is granted at our discretion, after assessment of affordability, your account history and reports from licensed credit bureaux, and is governed by the offer letter and any security documents, which prevail over these Terms for that facility.
10.2 The offer letter states the interest rate and basis, all fees, the total cost of credit, the repayment schedule, the early-repayment terms and the consequences of late payment. No charge not stated in the offer letter will be applied.
10.3 You authorise us to debit repayments from your Account on the due dates and, if funds are insufficient, from any other account you hold with us (right of set-off). By accepting a credit facility you also give the Global Standing Instruction mandated by the CBN, authorising recovery of a past-due amount from your accounts at other Nigerian banks and financial institutions. We will use it only for amounts genuinely past due.
10.4 We report every facility and its performance, including on-time repayment, to licensed credit bureaux as the Credit Reporting Act 2017 and CBN rules require. A missed payment is reported after the period stated in the offer letter. A restructured schedule agreed before a due date is not reported as a default.
10.5 Our recovery conduct follows CBN guidance. We will not contact your family, friends, employer's colleagues or other third parties about your facility, and will not use threats, harassment or public disclosure.
11. Cards
11.1 Cards are issued on the Verve scheme and remain our property. You must sign a physical card on receipt, keep the PIN secret, and use the card only within its limits and these Terms. Card transactions are governed also by the scheme's rules.
11.2 You may freeze, unfreeze, set limits for and cancel a card in the App. You must freeze a card immediately if it is lost or stolen. Liability for unauthorised card transactions is determined under section 6.3.
11.3 Disputes about card transactions, including at merchants and ATMs, are handled under the scheme's chargeback rules and the CBN's dispute-resolution timelines. Raise a dispute through the support portal with the transaction details; we will investigate and credit your Account provisionally or finally as the rules require.
11.4 Card renewal, replacement and other card fees are in the Tariff Guide.
12. Business accounts
12.1 A business customer operates its Account through Authorised Users appointed under its mandate in the roles we provide, including initiator, approver, viewer and cashier. The business is bound by every act of an Authorised User within their role and by every instruction made with an Authorised User's Credentials, and must remove users promptly when their authority ends.
12.2 The business sets the transaction limits, approval thresholds, time windows and location rules for its Account. We enforce them and are not liable for declining or holding a transaction that breaches them. Changes to rules and users are made by approvers and recorded in the audit trail.
12.3 The business warrants that its signatories, directors and beneficial owners have been fully and accurately disclosed, that its Account will be used only for its lawful business, and that it will comply with all tax, employment and regulatory obligations arising from payments it makes, including payroll. We do not calculate statutory deductions and pay only the net amounts you instruct.
12.4 Bulk payments are executed as individual transfers, each subject to section 7. We verify account names before approval; items that fail are retried or reported as the App shows.
13. Merchant services
13.1 POS terminals, virtual accounts, the virtual terminal and the developer API are provided to business customers under these Terms and any merchant or developer agreement we issue. Settlement of card and transfer receipts into the business Account is made on the timetable stated in the Tariff Guide or merchant agreement.
13.2 The business is responsible for the acts of its cashiers and staff using our merchant tools, for the goods and services it sells, and for any refunds or disputes with its customers. The virtual terminal displays credits that have settled on your virtual accounts; confirmation by a cashier is a record for your reconciliation and does not create or move funds.
13.3 Terminals remain our property or that of our terminal partner, must be returned on request or on closure, and may be remotely disabled for security or non-use. Developer API access is subject to the developer terms and may be suspended for misuse or security risk.
13.4 We may hold or reverse merchant settlements in respect of transactions that are disputed, charged back, fraudulent or unlawful, and may require a reserve where chargeback levels are high.
14. Dormant and unclaimed balances
14.1 Under the CBN's guidelines on dormant accounts and unclaimed balances, an Account with no customer-initiated transaction for twelve months becomes inactive, and after a further period becomes dormant. We will notify you before and after an Account becomes dormant using your contact details. Interest continues to accrue and no dormancy fee is charged. A dormant Account is reactivated by completing the identity verification we require.
14.2 Balances that remain unclaimed for the period the CBN prescribes are transferred to the CBN's Unclaimed Balances Trust Fund as the guidelines require. You or your estate may reclaim them from the CBN through us at any time afterwards by establishing entitlement.
15. Restrictions, holds and closure
15.1 We may restrict, freeze or place a post-no-debit on an Account, hold funds, or decline transactions where required by law, a regulator, a court order, the NFIU or a law-enforcement agency; where we reasonably suspect fraud, money laundering or other unlawful activity; where the Account is in dispute between signatories; or to comply with our risk rules. We will tell you unless we are prohibited from doing so.
15.2 You may close an Account at any time through the support portal, subject to settling any amount you owe us and returning cards and terminals. We may close an Account on thirty days' notice, or immediately where the law requires, where you have breached these Terms, where the Account is used unlawfully, or where we are unable to complete required verification. On closure we will pay any balance to you, less amounts owed, after any holds have been resolved.
16. Statements, errors and disputes
16.1 Statements are available in the App at any time and are the record of your Account. You must review them and tell us of any error or unauthorised entry promptly, and in any event within thirty days of the entry. We will investigate any entry you query, correct errors we have made, and apply the dispute timelines in the CBN Consumer Protection Regulations.
16.2 Our records of instructions, transactions and communications are evidence of them unless shown to be wrong.
17. Complaints
17.1 Complaints are made through the support portal at support.viscountbank.com, where you will receive a reference number and a first response within minutes between 7am and 8pm WAT every day. We aim to resolve complaints within five Business Days and will tell you in writing the outcome and any redress.
17.2 If we have not resolved your complaint within fourteen Business Days, or you are dissatisfied with our response, you may escalate it to the Consumer Protection Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Nothing in these Terms limits your right to do so or to pursue any other remedy available to you under Nigerian law.
18. Liability
18.1 We will perform our obligations with reasonable care and skill and in compliance with the law. We are liable to you for loss caused by our breach of these Terms, our negligence or our fraud, and for unauthorised transactions as section 6 provides.
18.2 We are not liable for loss caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including failure of NIBSS, card schemes, telecommunications networks, power or other banks; by your breach of these Terms, including disclosure of Credentials; by instructions you gave in error; or by actions we take in compliance with law or a regulator's direction. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit or loss of business, except where the law does not allow us to exclude it. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under Nigerian law or under the CBN Consumer Protection Framework.
18.3 You will indemnify us against loss we suffer because of your breach of these Terms, your unlawful use of the Account, or claims by third parties arising from your instructions, except to the extent caused by our negligence or breach.
19. Death and incapacity
On notice of a customer's death we will freeze the Account, continue to receive credits, and release the balance to the personal representatives on production of letters of administration or probate and any other documents the law requires. A nominated next of kin is a contact for this purpose and does not automatically acquire title to the balance. For a joint account, the surviving holder's rights are as stated in the account mandate. On notice of a customer's incapacity we will act on the instructions of a person lawfully appointed to manage their affairs.
20. Changes to these terms
We may change these Terms, the Tariff Guide and product terms to reflect changes in law, regulation, our systems or our products. We will give you at least thirty days' notice of a material change by notice in the App, by email or on viscountbank.com, except where a change is required by law or a regulator to take effect sooner. If you do not accept a change you may close your Account before it takes effect without charge; continuing to use the Account after the change takes effect is acceptance of it.
21. General
21.1 These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Subject to your right to escalate to the CBN, disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Nigeria.
21.2 We will communicate with you in English, in the App, by email, by SMS and on viscountbank.com. Notices to us must be given through the support portal.
21.3 We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another CBN-licensed institution with the regulator's approval and on notice to you. You may not transfer your rights without our consent.
21.4 If any provision of these Terms is unenforceable the rest remain in effect. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it. These Terms, together with the documents referred to in section 1.1, are the entire agreement between you and Viscount for the services they cover.
21.5 Viscount Microfinance Bank Limited, 13, Yalinga Street, Off Ademola Adetokunbo, Wuse 2, Abuja, FCT, Nigeria. Licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, MFB code 051126. Deposits insured by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation.