More than nine years after the Bank Verification Number (BVN) scheme was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), there are indications that a lot of Nigerians are ignorant of the fact that their BVN expires after 10 years….CONTINUE READING...CONTINUE READING
Reason: A trending Whatsapp video made by a man who identifies himself on social media as the, “Online banker,” enlightening Nigerians about the expiry date of the BVN , appears to be generating concern among some bank customers who fear that they will be adversely affected when their BVNs expire next year.
New Telegraph’s finance correspondent was yesterday inundated with phone calls from many of such customers who wanted to know if it is really true that the BVN does expire after 10 years. According to them, they had assumed that their BVN was valid for life.
They were informed that while their BVN does remain for life, after 10 years of the issuance of the BVN, the customer goes back to his/her bank to re-enroll. Information on questions about the BVN, obtained from the CBN and most Deposit Money Banks’ websites, confirm that the BVN expires after 10 years.
Given that the BVN scheme was launched by the CBN, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Commit- tee, the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) and the German firm, Dermalog, on February 14, 2014, it means that millions of bank customers across the country would have to re-enroll on the BVN platform by next year to be able to carry out transactions at their financial institutions.
The CBN had said in 2014 that the scheme was aimed at capturing biometrics of all bank customers and giving them a unique identity that could be verified across the Nigerian banking industry, adding that this would help to significantly reduce incidents of fraud and money laundering in the banking industry.
In his address at the seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business editors in Calabar last week, CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, stated that total BVN enrolment stood at 57,431,355 as of March 31, 2023.
Emefiele, who was represented by the Director, Monetary Policy department at the CBN, Dr. Hassan Mahmud, noted that the BVN scheme, as well as other initiatives of the regulator that have led to the introduction of Automated Teller Machines (ATM), Point of Sales (PoS) terminals, internet banking, mobile banking, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and the eNaira, have accelerated the adoption of electronic payment in the country….CONTINUE READING
