BVN registration deadline Update: BVN deadline nears CBN says only 60.2 million registered as of January 2024
BVN registration deadline Update: BVN deadline nears CBN says only 60.2 million registered as of January 2024
BVN registration deadline: On January 10, 2024, the number of people registered for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) climbed to 60.2 million. The most recent BVN registration data made available by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) disclosed this. The BVN database contained 59.9 million records as of December 18, 2023, according to a previous analysis from Nairametrics.
current indicates that throughout late December and early January of the current year, around 300,000 new BVN registrations were registered. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently announced that all bank accounts without BVN would be blocked starting in April 2024, which may have led to a spike in registrations for the number, even if it had remained slow during 2023.
In December last year, the central bank also directed commercial, businessman non-interest, payment service banks, other types of financial organizations, and mobile money operators, through an announcement that the BVN or National Recognition Number, NIN, attached to all accounts/wallets must be via computers revalidated by January 31, 2024.
The gap between BVN and account numbers
The BVN database has been gradually expanding. 4.8 million new registrations were registered in 2022, bringing the total number of users in the BVN database to 56.5 million at the end of the year. Data, however, that was made public near the end of the previous year indicated that the database had only grown by roughly 3.4 million.
There were 133.5 million active bank accounts in the nation as of December 2021, according to NIBSS. Data for 2022 and 2023 is not yet available, but it is anticipated that the numbers will exceed those for 2021, which shows that there is still a significant discrepancy between the number of bank accounts and the registered BVN.
Industry analysts assume that since a single BVN might be associated with several accounts, the difference might not be significant.
Five percent (3 million) of banked adults in Nigeria do not own a BVN or NIN, according to the Enhancing Financial Development and Access (EFInA) Availability to Financial Services in Nigeria 2023 Survey report.
The CBN declared in December of last year that starting in April of 2024, accounts without a BVN and National Identity Number (NIN) would be frozen.
The central bank directed banks to implement a “Post no Debit” restriction in a circular, prohibiting any kind of withdrawal, transfer, or other debit on behalf of clients “for all existing Tier-1 accounts/wallets without BVN or NIN.”
CBN’s deadline is April 2024.
“Any underfunded account or wallet will be put on ‘Post No Debit or Credit’ with immediate effect until the new procedure is completed. According to the CBN Director of Payments System Management Department Chibuzo Efobi’s circular, “All funded accounts or wallets shall be placed on ‘Post No Debit or Credit’ and no further transactions permitted effective March 1, 2024.”
the Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department Haruna Mustapha read in part.
