USA Africa Dialogue Series - Bank customers in Lagos urged to enroll on BVN

Bank customers in Lagos urged to enroll on BVN

http://businessnews.com.ng/2014/07/09/bank-customers-lagos-urged-enroll-bvn/?

By BusinessNews Staff on July 9, 2014

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with the bankers’ committee has commenced the registration of bank customers in Lagos State on the Bank Verification Number (BVN) scheme.


The CBN has therefore advised bank customers in Lagos to enroll and obtain their BVN. The exercise has gone live in select bank branches in Lagos. This is the first phase of the countrywide roll out.


According to a statement, in view of this, the server in all banks’ head offices have been configured, deployed and tested, and their staff members have also been trained in preparation for the exercise.


The BVN gives each bank customer a unique identity across the Nigerian Banking industry. This can be used for easy identification and verification of bank customers.


The initiative is part of the overall policy of the financial inclusion policy of the Financial Sector Strategy (FSS) agenda of ensuring Nigeria becomes one of the top 20 largest economies in the world by 2020.


Commenting on the enrollment process, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), who doubles as the Head of the BVN Project Management team, Mr. Ade Shonubi said, the enrolment process is simple and easy.

“A bank customer will be required to walk into any of the selected bank branches; fill and submit the BVN enrolment form; present self for data capturing (such as Fingerprint, facial Image, etc.) Thereafter, an acknowledgment slip with the transaction ID will be issued to the individual.


“Within 24 hours the system confirms the enrollment and a unique BVN is generated. The customer will immediately receive an SMS notification with the BVN,” he said.


He further explained that in order to ensure efficient implementation of the exercise, a phased rollout approach had been adopted starting from Lagos.


Biometric data capture machines have been deployed to about 1000 bank branches in Lagos, to date over 16,000 BVNs have been issued.


“This enrollment process is done only once and your BVN will be linked to all your bank accounts.
“The BVN solution is to ensure accountability, protect bank customers’ account from unauthorised access, reduce exposure to fraud, check identity theft, enhance credit advancement to bank customers, and also encourage financial inclusion.


“At the point of enrolment individuals shall be required to submit an acceptable means of identification, and update their information at the bank branch physically,” he added.
 
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