The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the alarm that less than half of active bank accounts in the Nigerian banking system have been enrolled in the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise.
A statement from the CBN last night in Abuja expressed concerns that bank customers are not taking advantage of “the extension to complete their BVN registration and also ensure that their various bank accounts have been linked to the BVN.”
The CBN statement noted that “the emerging statistical trend of the BVN registration exercise showed for about 52 million active bank accounts in various banks, total enrolment stood at about 20million, out of which about 14million accounts have been found linked to the BVN as at September, 2015.”
Another interesting trend the CBN said “also showed that after the initial rush between the end of June and July 2015, there has been a steady decline in new BVN enrolment figures for August and September, 2015. The emerging scenario therefore, strongly suggests that many bank account holders have continued to show apathy instead of taking advantage of the extension period.”
Given this development, the CBN was worried that “there is the apprehension that the commotion and melee experienced at various banking halls in the month of June 2015 would be repeated if customers do not use the remaining one month to ensure that they complete their BVN registration, and also get their various accounts linked to the BVN.”
Inspite of this apprehension, the CBN made it clear that there would not be further extension after October 31, 2015 deadline.
This means that customers without the BVN-linked accounts may risk being restricted from normal operations of their accounts or free access to their bank account balances.
The CBN said: “BVN is now a mandatory requirement for opening new bank accounts. As a result, those affected by the restrictions are customers with bank accounts which were opened prior to the commencement of the BVN scheme.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in collaboration with the Bankers’Committee, introduced the Bank Verification Number (BVN) on February 14, 2014.
This initiative of the Bankers’ Committee is aimed at ensuring unique identity for all bank customers and other users of financial services in the country by the use of the customers’ biometrics as means of identification.
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