Zenith Bank Sort Code in Nigeria Changes With Your Branch
057 is Zenith and the other six digits one branch. Which code applies if you moved branch or hold two accounts, and how to get it with no cheque book.
Any Zenith branch can help, not only the one holding your account. Zenith’s FAQ says requests can go through any branch or through its contact centre, Zenith Direct, on 0201 278 7000 or 0700ZENITHBANK, or at [email protected]. Quote the account number, because the code you want is the one for the branch behind that account.
Is there one sort code for all Zenith branches?
No. Each branch has its own nine digits. 057 comes first, the number the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) table of bank codes gives Zenith, and a form asking only for the bank code wants just that.
Two digits for the state follow, from a CBN circular: 15 for Lagos, 08 for Abuja, 06 for Borno, where Maiduguri is, 01 for Akwa Ibom, where Uyo is, and 24 for Delta, where Abraka is. Then come three for the branch and a check digit worked out from the other eight.
My account moved to another branch. Which code do I use?
The new branch’s. Zenith says a move takes about 24 hours once approved, and that the 10-digit account number stays the same. The only change it mentions is the address of the new branch on your next cheque book. It does not mention the sort code, but the code belongs to the branch, so the number you have memorised will not warn you. Treat leaves from the old book as out of date, and take the code from a new leaf or ask.
I have two Zenith accounts. Do they share a code?
Not always. Zenith allows a savings account at one branch and a current account at another, so one customer can have two sort codes. The code goes with the account named on the form, and that may not be the branch you walk into every week.
What if I have no cheque book?
Then a call settles it. The code does appear on Zenith’s cheque leaves, as the run of digits starting 057 at the bottom edge, and you can order a book from any branch, through internet banking or through Zenith Direct. Zenith quotes 24 hours for Lagos branches and 48 to 72 hours elsewhere, with 20 leaves at ₦525 on its FAQ. That is a slow and paid way to learn nine digits that Zenith Direct can read out to you.
ZiVA, Zenith’s WhatsApp assistant on +234 704 000 4422, lists cheque requests and statements among its jobs but not sort codes. Save the number for those.
Why not use a list from the internet?
Because the lists disagree with each other and Zenith settles nothing. Its FAQ and branch finder, in the copies the Internet Archive holds, show no codes, and we found no list from the CBN. Two directories swap the codes of the Computer Village and Medical Road branches in Ikeja, so at least one of them is wrong. A recent guide puts an Abuja branch under the digits 10, which belong to Imo. One list still in search results dates from January 2019, two months after the CBN’s state rule.
Nothing on the screen tells you which is right, so we print none here. Banks use the same layout with their own first three digits, and we have separate guides to Sterling Bank sort codes and Union Bank sort codes.
Do I need it for a transfer?
Inside Nigeria, no. Zenith’s own transfer code is *966*Amount*AccountNumber#, with no place for one, and a transfer needs only the 10-digit account number and the bank’s name. If a form still insists on a sort code, it means all nine digits, under the CBN’s account-number standards.
For a transfer from abroad into a Nigerian Zenith account, the sender needs a SWIFT code and not a sort code. Zenith’s SWIFT page explains what the code is without printing it, so ask Zenith Direct and pass on exactly what they give you.
Zenith Bank (UK) is another matter. It is a British bank, with a British sort code that it sends by email to fixed-term savings customers once they have applied. Its website also names sister banks in Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, each in its own country’s system, so 057 does not travel to any of them.
