CBN urges bank customers in Benin to obtain BVN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has advised bank customers in Benin to enroll and obtain the Bank Verification Number (BVN), which it recently introduced in collaboration with all Nigerian banks.
The exercise, which has started in selected bank branches in Lagos, is the first phase of the countrywide roll-out. Towards this end, all banks have their headquarters’ serv­ers configured, deployed and tested, and their staff trained in preparation for the enrol­ment and verification of end users.
The BVN gives each bank customer a unique identity across the banking industry. This can be used for easy identification and verification of bank customers.
The BVN initiative is part of the overall 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 en­rolment process, Managing Director of NIBSS, who dou­bles as the Head of the BVN Project Management team, Mr. Ade Shonubi, said: “The enrolment process is simple and easy.”
He stated that bank cus­tomers would be required to walk into any of the selected bank branches, fill and submit the BVN enrolment form and present themselves for data capturing (such as fingerprint, facial image, etc.). Thereaf­ter, an acknowledgment slip with the transaction ID would be issued to the individuals.  Within 24 hours, the system would confirm the enrolment and a unique BVN is gener­ated. The customer would immediately receive an SMS notification with the BVN.
He explained that to ensure an efficient implementation, a phased roll-out approach was being adopted, beginning in Lagos. Biometric data capture machines had been deployed to about 1, 000 bank branches in Lagos and to date, over 16, 000 BVNs had been issued. At full roll-out, 10, 000 enrol­ment sets would be deployed across 5,000 bank branches nation-wide.
He stated: “This enrollment process is done only once and your BVN will be linked to all your bank accounts across Nigerian banks
“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.”