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Sanction banks, not customers over BVN, NIN

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Abuja, Dec. 4, 2023:  A Financial Expert, Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sanction banks that allowed customers to operate accounts without their BVN and NIN.

Unegbu, a past president of the Chattered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), said on Sunday in Abuja against the backdrop of the recent directive by the apex bank to freeze  all bank accounts without a Bank Verification Number and National Identification Number from April, 2024.

The directive was contained in a recent circular issued by the CBN to all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

The circular was jointly signed by the Directors, Payments System Management Department, Chibuzo Efobi, and  Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustapha.

The apex bank also directed that all the BVN or NIN associated with all accounts/wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024.

It said the directive was part of efforts to promote financial system stability and strengthen the Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures in all financial institutions.

According to Unegbu, the apex bank should spare the account holders and impose heavy sanctions on the DMBs.

“It is the fault of the DMBs; instead of punishing the customers, the CBN should sanction the banks heavily.

“They were instructed to ensure that every account holder had the BVN and NIN, but they failed to comply because of the greed to have deposits,” he said.

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CBN rests debate on BVN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the Bank Verification Number (BVN) issued in Nigeria remains for life and has no expiry date, as reported by a national newspaper.

Its Acting-Director, Corporate Communications, Alhaji Isa Abdulmumin, said this in a statement on Wednesday.

Abdulmumin said that the claim was completely false and therefore advised bank customers to be guided, accordingly.

“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to reports suggesting that the Bank Verification Number issued by the Bank in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) expires after a ten-year period.

“Contrary to these claims, we wish to clarify that the BVN issued in Nigeria has no expiry date.

“Once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life.

“However, the Regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions spelt out in the document and after being cleared by relevant authorities.

“Therefore, we urge bank customers in the country, especially those whose biometrics have been captured by the system, to continue using their unique identifiers as they last their entire lifetime,” he said.

The BVN is an 11 digit number that acts as an individual’s universal ID in all banks in Nigeria.

It ensures a customer can engage securely in transactions at any Point of Banking operations.

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Rush to banks as CBN takes further action on BVN defaulters

Recently, banks in Nigeria have reportedly experienced a surge in new Bank Verification Number (BVN) registrations following the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that it will close bank accounts not linked to BVN.

This move by the apex bank is aimed at cleaning up the sector and reducing financial fraud, according to the CBN’s Director of the Risk Management Department and Chief Risk Officer, Blaise Ijabor.

The announcement by the CBN is not the first of its kind. The Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) had earlier reported that there had been slowed registrations since the beginning of 2023 despite the CBN’s announcement. As of December 2022, the BVN record stood at 56.5 million, with only 500,000 new enrolments in the last three months of 2023, including the nine days in April. This figure is lower than the average of 400,000 monthly registrations in 2022.

The BVN is a unique identifier that links a person to bank accounts across financial institutions in Nigeria, including Fintech. It is issued or required at the point of bank account opening. BVN gives account owners a unique, verifiable identity across the Nigerian banking system while ensuring customers’ accounts are protected from unauthorized access, according to Nairametrics.

The move by the CBN is expected to drive new BVN registrations and encourage customers to update their bank records.

Apart from the announcement on BVN, the CBN has also issued new guidelines to commercial banks on dormant accounts. The guidelines state that the CBN shall open a pool account to hold all funds left in dormant savings, current, and domiciliary accounts.

The new guideline is contained in the bank’s circular to commercial banks issued on April 12, 2023. The move is aimed at encouraging account owners to be active in their accounts and reduce the incidence of financial fraud.

The recent announcement by the CBN on the closure of bank accounts not linked to BVN and the guidelines on dormant accounts is expected to encourage new BVN registrations and drive updates to bank records. This is crucial in reducing the incidence of financial fraud and promoting a clean and efficient financial sector.

Published by Goldennewsng

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BVN increases to 56m in Nigeria

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The total registered Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) has climbed to 56.57 million as at January 8, 2023, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), reports.

According to NIBSS, Nigerian banks recorded a total of 4.8 million new Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) in 2022.

“This is a significant increase compared to 51.7 million registered BVNs registered as of December 2021.’’

NIBSS observed that the 2022 figure indicated a slowdown in the BVN database growth compared with 2021 when it increased by six million from 45.7 million in December 2020 to 51.7 million.

NIBSS said active bank accounts in the country stood at133.5million

With the increasing incidence of compromise on conventional security systems (password and PIN), there is a high demand for greater security for access to sensitive or personal information in the banking system.

In recent times, biometric technologies have been used to analyse human characteristics as an enhanced form of authentication for real-time security processes.

While data of active bank accounts for 2022 are yet to be released, the NIBSS said the figure is expected to be higher than 133.5 million of the preceding year, which shows that there is still a wide gap between the registered BVNs and the number of bank accounts.

The BVN is a unique identification number that can be verified across all financial institutions in Nigeria.

A customer’s BVN is mapped to the individual’s biological traits namely: Finger Print, Signature, Facial photograph captured at the point of enrollment.

The BVN data base is the most reliable and comprehensive data source in the Nigeria Financial Industry.

NIBSS said the BVN offers the verification and validation of the customers’ identity seamlessly across multiple and interoperable electronic platforms.

“The BVN database is searched to display relevant information about an individual, this is called the bio-data (it includes names, phone numbers, addresses, dates of birth).

The purpose of the project is to use biometric information as a means of first identifying and verifying all individuals that have account(s) in any Nigerian bank.

It is a means of authenticating customer’s identity at point of transactions, to provide a uniform industrially accepted unique identity for Bank Customers, to authenticate transactions without the use of cards using only bio-metric features and PIN and identification of blacklisted customers,’’ NIBSS said.

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CBN places 6,047 BVN on watch list

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has placed more than 6,047 Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) on watch list for fraudulent transactions.

The apex bank published in its Financial Stability June 2022 report released in December which noted that 11,871 BVNs have been watch-listed as deceased persons this year.

The report disclosed that the apex bank conducted an assessment of 28 banks and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System to ascertain compliance with the Regulatory Framework for BVN Operations and Watch-List for the Nigerian Banking Industry in the review period.

It noted that the assessment revealed some infractions and regulatory actions were taken.

The report further noted that there were 2.72 million enrolled in the first half of this year, bringing the total number of enrolled BVNs to 54.65 million.

In the report, it was also stated that the number of BVN-linked accounts was 130.57 million out of 148.46 million active accounts.

 “Also, 2,722,518 BVNs were enrolled, bringing total BVN enrolment to 54,651,086, reflecting an increase of 5.24 per cent over 51,928,568 enrolments at end-December 2021.

“The number of accounts linked with BVNs was 130,569,656 out of 148,462,947 active customer accounts, while the number of watch-listed BVNs associated with fraud and deceased persons stood at 6,047 and 11,871, respectively.”

Based on the report, the total number of watch-listed BVNs for fraud rose by 13.09 per cent from 5,347 in December 2021 to 6,047 in June 2022.