Despite awareness, 37m bank customers yet to register for BVN– NIBSS

…As enrollment hits 35.1m
Despite awareness and rigorous campaigns, no fewer than 37, 639,438 bank customers are yet to be captured in the Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) exercise as at October 7, 2018, the latest update on BVN by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, (NIBSS) has shown.

The total number of BVN so far issued by concerned financial service institutions in Nigeria has climbed to 35,056,816 as at October 7, 2018, out of about 72,696,254 total active bank accounts as at June 2018.

Although, the figure of issued BVN is expected to increase significantly due to the recent directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), mandating Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) to also commence BVN registration exercise for their customers.

The extension of BVN exercise to the customers of OFIs was contained in a CBN circular dated April 21 with reference number OFI/DIR/CIR/GEN/17/139 and signed by the CBN Director in charge of Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, Mrs. Tokunbo Martins.

The bank has also moved on to set July 31, 2017, as the deadline for this exercise, warning that any OFI account not linked with the BVN “shall not be allowed to make withdrawals.”

The CBN in collaboration with the bankers committee has explained that BVN registration for customers of OFI is expected to, among other things, support the achievement of zero default credit target set for Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) in the Micro Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund (MSMEDF) and also open credit opportunities for millions of people without a standard means of identification.

To address this challenge and complement, the existing means of identification of customers, which include the Driver’s License; the International Passport;

the National Identity Card; and the Permanent Voter’s Card; the CBN, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, launched the Bank Verification Number (BVN) Project in February 2014.

The BVN is expected to also minimise the incidence of fraud and money laundering in the financial system, as well as enhance financial inclusion.

The implementation of the BVN initiative, which started with the customers of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), has been very successful.

“However, to avoid a broken identification link in the financial system, it has become necessary to extend the BVN enrolment to the customers of Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) especially as some OFIs are located in the rural areas of the country, and have customers that may not have enrolled with the DMBs”, the CBN explained.