Nume Ekeghe
Data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has revealed that enrolments for the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) by bank customers’ in the country has reached 54.77million as at last month.
The NIBSS data also showed that a total of 700,000 bank customers in three months between April 10, 2022, and July 10, 2022, enrolled in the initiative introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to tackle identity challenges in the banking sector.
As at December 26, 2021, the enrolments stood at 51.7 million, while BVN enrolment database grew by six million in the 2021.
NIBSS data showed that active bank accounts in the country stood at 133.5 million as of December 2021. It means 78.73 bank customers have not registered their BVN in any of the 22 banks in the country.
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.
Speaking with THISDAY, the Managing Director, Highcap Securities Limited, Mr. David Adnori said the over 770 million gap in bank’s customers yet to register their BVN calls for concerns.
He, however, 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, ”he 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.
