Only 57.4 million of Nigeria’s more than 200 million citizens have a Bank Verification Number (BVN), according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).The apex bank launched the BVN project in February 2014 in collaboration with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), the bankers committee, and deposit money banks.
The BVN was introduced to uniquely identify bank customers in Nigeria, lower fraud, and boost the effectiveness of the nation’s financial operations.
Since its launch, the BVN has developed into a crucial prerequisite for opening and maintaining bank accounts in the nation.This was said in Calabar at the 34th seminar for finance correspondents and business editors by CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele.
Emefiele, who was represented by Dr. Hassan Mahmoud, Director Monetary Policy Department of the CBN, stated: “With a total enrolment of 57,431,355 as of 31st March 2023, the BVN is supporting the development of credit profiles for banking customers, which will assist in improving access to credit for credit-worthy borrowers by banks.
“As part of attempts to remove the constraint associated with inadequate identification of banking customers, the CBN chairman stated that BVN has continued to feature in the bank’s Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.”
He said that the CBN would “continue to support the aggressive enrolment of prospective banking customers in the informal sector onto the BVN system.”
The Payments System Vision (PSV) 2025 was introduced, according to Emefiele, “to increase the number of available payment options and strengthen regulation of the payments system.”
Speaking more about the payment system, the CBN governor noted that the apex bank uses the “payments system as a tool to achieve the financial inclusion goals of the country.”
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