Customers will not pay for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) cards to be issued to them after the ongoing registration, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), Mr. Ade Shonubi, has said.
He said the BVN initiative is aimed at protecting bank customers and strengthening banking. It is an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee to save customers’ funds, avoid losses through compromise of personal identification numbers and other criminalities in the industry, he added.
The NIBSS boss, who is in charge of the implementation of the BVN, said: “We are giving the BVN cards out for free. The cost is borne by the Bankers’ Committee, which considers the whole biometric project very important. They have been bearing the cost; the cost of the cards, cost of almost everything else that has to do with the BVN.”
Shonubi also stated that the number of bank customers that have so far obtained their BVN had been quite encouraging. He, therefore, expressed optimism that going by the current high rate of customers’ compliance, banks will achieve their target of customer registration.
Shonubi also assured that banks would soon commence the distribution of the BVN cards, adding that the cards were ready and awaiting collection by customers.
“I have got my BVN card. I would encourage banks’ customers to talk to their banks as well. They have been printing them and sending them to the banks to distribute to the branches where you have enrolled, you would be sent an SMS. For those that have given email address, it would be sent to their emails,” he explained.
To encourage enrolment on the BVN, the CBN directed banks to honour transactions over N100 million from customers with BVN from March 2015. Such transactions, according to the apex bank, include but not limited to, money transfers, loans, and contingencies, among others.
This article originally appeared in The Nation
