Twenty-one days before the expiration of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) deadline for all bank customers to have a Verification Number, BVN, in the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), registration data showed that over 60.2 million Nigerians now have a BVN.
This represents an increase of over 2.6 percent from 58.7 million BVN registrations as of September 12, 2023, before the apex bank’s directive.
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Recall that in December 1st, 2023, 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 and wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024.
The circular said that 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.
According to the NIBSS electronic payment factsheet for 2021, the number of bank accounts in the country was 191.4 million, of which 57.9 million were inactive.
According to the Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2023 Survey report, five percent (3 million) of banked adults do not have a BVN or NIN.
The increase in BVN shows that bank customers are up to the task of registering and revalidating their BVN ahead of the CBN’s deadline.