CBN Gives Customers BVN Reprieve

Customers yesterday got a breather on the Bank Verification Number (BVN), with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directing banks to ensure their uninterrupted enrolment on the platform.
In a statement signed by its Director (Corporate Communications) Ibrahim Mu’azu, the CBN said although the time frame for the initial enrolment had elapsed, the exercise should go on indefinitely. The BVN, which captures bank customers’ biometric data, such as fingerprints, provides unique identification for them and equally protects their accounts from unauthorised access, identity theft and fraud.
Customers who are yet to register are required to do so to avoid restrictions on their accounts. “Account holders who are yet to obtain their BVN are enjoined to visit their banks and do the registration. There are two steps to the BVN process. The first step is to obtain a BVN while the second step requires the account holder to link the BVN with his or her bank account(s),” he said.
Mu’azu said an individual could enroll for a BVN without necessarily having a bank account. Such individual can then submit the acquired BVN at any bank he/she wishes to open an account. He said linking BVN to bank accounts is now a one-stop-shop which enables account holders to register and link their BVN to their accounts in one location, irrespective of the banks in which they have their accounts. All these are aimed at making the process as seamless as possible.
“The BVN is neither a payment instrument nor an account number and therefore cannot be used to access any account by unauthorised users,” Mu’azu said.