The number of new registrations for Bank Verification Number(BVN) rose by over 2.95 million to 54.85 million between January and July 2022, data from the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has shown.
According to data on the website of NIBSS, which holds the banking industry data, total BVN recorded as at the end of December 2021 stood at 51.9 million a figure that had grown to 54.85 million as a t July 17, 2022.
While the latest data of active BVN is yet to be released, NIBSS put the active BVN as at December last year at 44.5 million, meaning 7.4 million BVN were inactive. Total bank accounts stood at 191.4 million belonging to 122.3 customers.
Active accounts as at last year December, however, 133.5 million leaving 57.9 million accounts inactive.
The BVN had been introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to tackle identity challenges in the banking sector and accounts without BVN are expected to be placed on PND (post no debit).
While there may be multiple accounts linked to a single BVN, industry analysts said, there is still a gap between bank accounts and BVN registrations, which must be filled.
According to the managing director, Highcap Securities Limited, Mr. David Adnori, the gap in bank’s customers yet to register their BVN calls for concerns, as he encouraged bank customers to update their accounts with BVN in order to drive financial inclusion of the CBN.
According to NIBSS, BVN gives bank account owners a unique identity that can be verified across the Nigerian banking industry, while it ensures that customers’ bank accounts are protected from unauthorised access.
Emphasising the need for the number, NIBSS noted that, with the increasing incidents of compromise on conventional security systems (password and PIN), there was a high demand for greater security for access to sensitive or personal information in the banking system.
“In recent times, biometric technologies have been used to analyse human characteristics as an enhanced form of authentication for real-time security processes,” it said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, NIBSS, launched the BVN project on February 14, 2014, with the aim of capturing biometrics of all bank customers and giving them a unique identity that can be verified across the Nigerian banking industry.
The project is also aimed at deepening financial inclusion in the country. To have many more Nigerians on the BVN database, CBN had in December 2019 announced the commencement of the classification BVN 2.0 plan that allows both the rich and poor in rural areas to access financial services
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