As the month ends this Saturday, so will the four-month granted by
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for bank customers to register for the
Bank Verification Number (BVN). The exercise commenced one year and
three months ago.
The former governor of the CBN Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, now the Emir of Kano launched the BVN in February last year as part of efforts to reduce fraud risks as well as increase access to finance by bank customers.
The deadline had earlier been shifted from June 30 this year after banking halls were jam-packed with customers who wanted to beat the deadline. Normal banking services were disrupted while the London Metropolitan Police had to be called in to disperse of the crowd on the streets of London who wanted to register for their BVN.
Consequently the deadline was moved to October 31 to allow more bank customers register. Also the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) which is spearheading the registration had ample time to spread the tentacles of the company it employed to help in gathering the data of Nigerian bank customers in diaspora for the BVN.
NIBSS had employed the services of Online Integrated Services (OIS), a contract that will end by the end of the year to help in the collation of data needed in the registration for the BVN. OIS, a company working with the Nigerian embassy in data gathering had then set to work, charging £30 covering the cost of machinery and manpower.
Back home, banks had also not relented in educating their customers on the need to ensure that they have the BVN and also link all their accounts with their BVN in the case where they have accounts with more than one bank.
Several banks had adopted various measures such as emails, text messages and phone calls to their customers to ensure that they all are registered. Some banks had opened up their branches at the weekends to ensure full compliance by their customers.
Also as part of measures to make the registration easier for Nigerian banks’ customers in diaspora, banks had opened up their branches outside the country to customers to take their biometrics for the BVN just as Nigerian embassies across the globe were opened up for the BVN registration. The registrations at the embassies and the bank representative offices however come at no cost to the customers.
The BVN captures bank customers’ biometrics which is electronic verification tools for online and mobile banking that offer unique customer identification, giving unchangeable identification that helps in Know Your Customer (KYC).
Bank customers are expected to walk into the banking halls and have their biometrics which includes facial image and print of all 10 fingers to create a unique identity and attached number to the customer. The unique identity created cuts across the banking industry and the customer has just one identity not withstanding how many banks or accounts such customer uses. This means that the customer has to register only once no matter how many banks he or she uses.
The introduction of BVN is targeted at addressing cybercrime, ATM fraud and other kinds of financial frauds as well as safeguard customers’ funds to avoid losses through Personal Identification Numbers (PIN).
Aside this, the BVN will also strengthen the current KYC guidelines and allow banks have more confidence in giving out loans. The BVN allows for the financial history of a customer to be stored at a central location and accessed by other banks who seek information about that customer.
With the BVN, credit history of customers who want to secure loans are made available to banks, also customers with suspicious accounts or transactions will be tracked with the BVN, making it difficult for fraudsters to maintain bank accounts.
Deputy director, Banking and Payments System Department, Musa Jimoh, stated that with the BVN there is no hiding place for the fraudsters. While noting that over 20 million bank customers have their BVN, he stated that the reason “we have not been able to track them is because not everyone has a BVN. There are still some accounts today that don’t have a BVN.
“However, when the cut off comes, any bank account that does not have a BVN cannot receive or take out money. So if you are a fraudster and you try to transfer money to an account that does not have a BVN, e system will reject it. If you are fraudster and you transfer money to an account that has BVN then we know you.”
Adding that the data collated will be harmonized with other biometric data collected by other security and identity agents in the country, Fatokun said “once we have that harmonization, the is no hiding place. If any account is used to defraud anyone, we will know who it is.
Likewise, executive director at Sterling Bank, Mr Abubakar Suleiman has said when fully implemented, the BVN will help to curb arbitrage in the foreign exchange market.
The Bankers Committee and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had cut spending limits on naira denominated cards for transactions abroad. The policy reduced the spending limit on the usage of the naira denominated debit cards for transactions abroad, from $150,000 per person annually, to $50,000 per person annually, while daily cash withdrawal limit on the card was also fixed at $300 per person.
The former governor of the CBN Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, now the Emir of Kano launched the BVN in February last year as part of efforts to reduce fraud risks as well as increase access to finance by bank customers.
The deadline had earlier been shifted from June 30 this year after banking halls were jam-packed with customers who wanted to beat the deadline. Normal banking services were disrupted while the London Metropolitan Police had to be called in to disperse of the crowd on the streets of London who wanted to register for their BVN.
Consequently the deadline was moved to October 31 to allow more bank customers register. Also the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) which is spearheading the registration had ample time to spread the tentacles of the company it employed to help in gathering the data of Nigerian bank customers in diaspora for the BVN.
NIBSS had employed the services of Online Integrated Services (OIS), a contract that will end by the end of the year to help in the collation of data needed in the registration for the BVN. OIS, a company working with the Nigerian embassy in data gathering had then set to work, charging £30 covering the cost of machinery and manpower.
Back home, banks had also not relented in educating their customers on the need to ensure that they have the BVN and also link all their accounts with their BVN in the case where they have accounts with more than one bank.
Several banks had adopted various measures such as emails, text messages and phone calls to their customers to ensure that they all are registered. Some banks had opened up their branches at the weekends to ensure full compliance by their customers.
Also as part of measures to make the registration easier for Nigerian banks’ customers in diaspora, banks had opened up their branches outside the country to customers to take their biometrics for the BVN just as Nigerian embassies across the globe were opened up for the BVN registration. The registrations at the embassies and the bank representative offices however come at no cost to the customers.
The BVN captures bank customers’ biometrics which is electronic verification tools for online and mobile banking that offer unique customer identification, giving unchangeable identification that helps in Know Your Customer (KYC).
Bank customers are expected to walk into the banking halls and have their biometrics which includes facial image and print of all 10 fingers to create a unique identity and attached number to the customer. The unique identity created cuts across the banking industry and the customer has just one identity not withstanding how many banks or accounts such customer uses. This means that the customer has to register only once no matter how many banks he or she uses.
The introduction of BVN is targeted at addressing cybercrime, ATM fraud and other kinds of financial frauds as well as safeguard customers’ funds to avoid losses through Personal Identification Numbers (PIN).
Aside this, the BVN will also strengthen the current KYC guidelines and allow banks have more confidence in giving out loans. The BVN allows for the financial history of a customer to be stored at a central location and accessed by other banks who seek information about that customer.
With the BVN, credit history of customers who want to secure loans are made available to banks, also customers with suspicious accounts or transactions will be tracked with the BVN, making it difficult for fraudsters to maintain bank accounts.
Deputy director, Banking and Payments System Department, Musa Jimoh, stated that with the BVN there is no hiding place for the fraudsters. While noting that over 20 million bank customers have their BVN, he stated that the reason “we have not been able to track them is because not everyone has a BVN. There are still some accounts today that don’t have a BVN.
“However, when the cut off comes, any bank account that does not have a BVN cannot receive or take out money. So if you are a fraudster and you try to transfer money to an account that does not have a BVN, e system will reject it. If you are fraudster and you transfer money to an account that has BVN then we know you.”
Adding that the data collated will be harmonized with other biometric data collected by other security and identity agents in the country, Fatokun said “once we have that harmonization, the is no hiding place. If any account is used to defraud anyone, we will know who it is.
Likewise, executive director at Sterling Bank, Mr Abubakar Suleiman has said when fully implemented, the BVN will help to curb arbitrage in the foreign exchange market.
The Bankers Committee and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had cut spending limits on naira denominated cards for transactions abroad. The policy reduced the spending limit on the usage of the naira denominated debit cards for transactions abroad, from $150,000 per person annually, to $50,000 per person annually, while daily cash withdrawal limit on the card was also fixed at $300 per person.
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