Registration for Bank Verification Number, BVN, of Nigerian bank customers has risen to 60.2 million 21 days before the expiration of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s deadline for registration.
Franktalknow reports that, This is according to the latest data from the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System, NIBSS.
The figure represents an increase of over 2.6 per cent from 58.7 million BVN registrations as of September 12 2023.
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Recall that on December 1, 2023, the CBN directed commercial, merchant, non-interest, payment service banks, other financial institutions, and mobile money operators through a circular that the BVN or National Identification Number, NIN, attached to all accounts/wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024.
The circular said effective March 1, 2024, all funded accounts or wallets without BVN or NIN shall be placed on ‘Post No Debit or Credit’, and no further transactions would be permitted.
The NIBSS electronic payment factsheet for 2021 indicates that, the number of bank accounts in the country was 191.4 million, of which 57.9 million were inactive.
Also, similar statistics by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, EFInA, Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2023 Survey showed that five per cent, 3 million, of banked adults do not have a BVN or NIN.
