Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) will at the end of May begin allocating uniform numbers (Bank Verification Number) that will be unique to every customer, the Central Bank of Nigeria and Nigeria Interbank-Settlement System (NIBSS) have said.
CBN spokesman Isaac Okoroafor, who disclosed this to reporters at the weekend, said the BVN was a continuation of the $50 million biometrics project instituted by the apex bank, Bankers’ Committee, Dermalog and Charms Plc.
He said the BVN has been deployed in all head offices of banks where their members of staff started enrollment since March 31.
So far, between 42 and 48 bank offices have been covered.
Okoroafor said the use of drivers’ licence, international passport and other forms of identity cards for account opening may no longer be required once the public enrolment to the BVN commences.
The BVN, he said, enables each individual to have a single identification within the financial system and gives each customer maximum protection and security of transactions. Although he did not give enrolment deadline for the public, he said, it was compulsory for every account holder to enroll on the platform.
The CBN spokesman said the earlier a customer enrolls the better for the banking system. He said the CBN collaborated with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in the execution of the project.
“The NIMC is fully in this, but the data requirement for the project is fewer for the data requirement for NIMC. What is required is that if one registers now, and he just needs to update the data with NIMC, he simply adds additional information,” he said.
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Its good policy to ease proper identification but my fear is if is not going to be bastardised by the so called policy makers for their self interests. I strongly believe that where this policy is being adopted from it is working perfectly as expected but getting here in Nigeria it becomes messed up. I hope it works even for Security enhancement. Thanks