Bank customers with BVN now 33.95m – NIBSS

Total bank customers with Bank Verification Number (BVN) stood at over 33.95 million as at July 15, 2018, data obtained from the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) has revealed.

This development simply means that 46.7per cent of the 72,696,254 active account holders have registered on BVN initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

But The Daily Times checks showed that Bank customers with BVN in 2017 were 31.4 million, meaning that a total of 31,426,091 were issued BVN last year.

Analysts, however, maintained that the figure might increase further this year as a result of the recent extension of Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) registration by the CBN.

As at September 10, 2017, a total number of 30.26 million bank customers were issued BVN as against 29.4 million issued as at June 18, 2017.

Early January 2015, a total of about 2.24 million were issued BVN, a year the apex bank commenced the exercise.

The CBN in collaboration with banks carried out various sensitisation exercises which had been assisting in driving the stakeholders support for the project.

The enrollment is still ongoing at about 5,000 banks locations across the country.

As at June 7, 2015, the collaborative efforts in the implementation of the BVN initiative had resulted in the achievement of over 12.43 million registered customers in the central database.

The data from NIBSS website indicated that active account holders had increased by 8.6 per cent to 72,696,254 as at June 2018 from 66,958,728 in January 2018.

The data by NIBSS stated that total saving accounts rose by 7.2 per cent to 83,889,676 from 78,252,072 in January. The data noted that total saving accounts holders hit 80,644,171 in March 2018.

For current account holders, the data by NIBSS disclosed that banks operating in Nigeria have 24,387,000 total current accounts as at June 2018.

Earlier in the month, the CBN released an amended regulatory framework on BVN operations and watch-lists for Nigerian financial system, saying a valid court order is a requirement to have access to a customer’s BVN.

The apex bank in a circular to all banks, switches, mobile money operators, payment solution providers, microfinance banks and others, noted that any requests for BVN information must be accompanied with a court order.

The circular signed by the Director, Banking and Payments system department, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, titled ‘Amendment to the Regulatory Framework for BVN Operations and Watch-list for the Nigerian Banking Industry,’ has taken immediate effect.

On the amendment, it stated that, “Section 1.6 of the Framework, Eligibility for Access to the BVN which states that, ‘The following entities may have access to BVN information, subject to the approval of the CBN,’ is hereby amended to read thus, ‘the following entities may have access to BVN information, after providing a valid Court Order, subject to the approval of the CBN’.

“Consequently, the CBN by this circular hereby informs all stakeholders that the provision of a valid court order is one of the pre-requisites for the release of BVN information to applicants.”